Legend of the Seven Sins: Gathering Storm
by MistressofSins
Summary: Ailah is an uncommon case, a girl without a Digimon Partner. However when she meets Impmon, she realizes her mysterious partner is keeping many secrets. With the words of a prophecy Ailah and her friends must stop the Rogue Tamers from causing an invasion of their world. However a darker shadow looms, seeking the power of the crests of the Seven Great Demon Lords. Book/Season 1. AU
1. Awoken! Demons Appear!

**WARNING:**

 **This particular chapter has gore, light mentions of death, and other such things. This is a darker series of Digimon. If you don't like that kind of thing, don't read it, or don't complain that you have.**

* * *

 **So here we are with chapter one. I've been planning this story for some time and trying to get it actually posted on the website, but I wanted to make sure I had the full story (for all four books planned out) before I posted it. Also, if you guys hadn't been able to tell yet, my favorite Digimon is Beelzemon, which is why he's so heavily involved in this story.**

 **Anyway, I don't promise this will be 100% error free, and don't expect it to really follow any of the anime or canon like that, because well, I created this AU specifically for this story. I won't be changing too much if I can absolutely help it, but well, I'm sure you're all aware how well that often goes with fan fiction.**

 **Now, to start off this chapter, I'll give my "immortal words" from someone who commented about this chapter: So in the immortal words of my little sister (whom one of the characters is based off of): "Well it's about time."**

 **And with that, let's start the chapter!**

* * *

Chapter One: Awoken! Demons Appear!

* * *

 _To say that one person is evil and another good is only a matter of perspective. No matter which way in the spectrum you look, you could find yourself looking at the other and thinking that was where evil lay. It is an unfortunate but true reflection of the nature of all of us. The same could be said for the creatures that inhabit the world opposite of ours. It was created by us, but not exactly for us. It was inspired by the imaginations of thousands of children, and came to be like the worlds that we had all seen on the television one day._

 _They say that the Digimon came to be because of humans, that they needed us, but sometimes I think we're the ones who needed them. True, some of this would have never happened if they hadn't existed, but it was only a matter of time before our technology could truly catch up with the imaginations of the world that have always existed and always dreamed. And not just the good dreams, the bad and neutral ones as well, all making up one world as complex as our own, and filled with creatures that exist within the realms of their own rules._

 _However, these are living creatures, and they have just as much power to decide their own destinies as we do. I should know, considering who I tend to hang around with. The Seven Demon Lords were powerful and malefic beings, fallen angels and other such crooked creatures that spawned a war. After losing to the Royal Knights, they were sealed away, only to escape again. After countless battles the Seven Demon Lords were finally destroyed, and a new generation of the same creatures rose up to take their place._

 _Only these creatures weren't the same. The second generation Demon Lords weren't evil like the first, taking a rather neutral stance towards the world outside their kingdom and ruling to keep peace over the land of darkness. Their subjects chose to accept them and live in the peace their rulers sought to hold over them. However, peace never does seem to reign in the Digital World for long, another fact I learned quite quickly._

 _The other Digimon feared them and thought they were as bad as the first, fear that only grew more when their enemy began to make it seem true. These Seven Demon Lords were driven out, forced to dedigivolve or turn back into their digieggs. With them out of the way, an evil force began moving through their kingdom, silently working towards a far more sinister goal. It framed the Demon Lords for a crime they had never committed and masking the true intent._

 _That's where our story begins, and where I come in. That's where my perfectly average life got completely turned upside down and where I found someone who's very important to me. I didn't know it at the time, or who he was. But I will certainly never forget it._

* * *

Ailah found herself surrounded by darkness, not the silent and thoughtful darkness of someone who had just closed their eyes to go to sleep, but a suffocating, stifling darkness. Through it, she could hear screaming, the voices of people screaming and pleading for mercy and finding none. She looked around through the blackness, feeling terrified, wanting to scream but hearing nothing leaving her lips. If only she could see! She hated waiting.

Then she could see, and she wished she couldn't anymore. This time when she screamed, she definitely heard the noise, but it was impossible to distinguish it between her own voice and the thousands that were already rising to the sky. It was night, and the stars were hidden behind the haze of smoke and dust from the still smoldering fires. Corpses of humans and digimon littered the streets of the familiar town, choking her breath in her throat.

She had to breathe. She had to be dreaming. Digimon turned into particles when they died, not corpses. That's right! She had to be dreaming. None of this was real! Ailah told herself that, but she couldn't look away from the faces of the people she knew, and the digimon that her world already couldn't live without. There were so many people with partners now, though it wasn't unusual to see someone without one, someone like Ailah. Even the people she didn't know, she found she was trembling as she stared at them. What kind of creature would do something like this?

The thick air and scent of blood was pungent, and it made her gag. She turned away, hoping to escape those glassy and accusing eyes, but she couldn't. They were everywhere. She looked up and spotted the smoldering wreckage that had once been her house, screaming again as she spotted her own mangled body hanging out the window. She scrambled backwards, tripping down into the pile of corpses, their fingers seeming to reach up and grab her.

She leaped up, pushing them away and trembling badly as she looked up towards the skyline, anywhere to not see them. As she did though, she caught the sight of something else looming in the darkness, a shadowy figure that was just out of the light enough she couldn't be sure the colors or even the true size and shape of the thing. One thing she did know though, was that it was huge. It started laughing, sending icy tendrils creeping down through her lungs and through her body until she was just numb with the fear she felt as she stared at it.

 _What is that thing?_ She thought, her brain hardly able to form that simple sentence anymore.

Someone, or something, grabbed her, covering her eyes with its hands. She thought it was male, considering it was several feet taller than her and appeared to he rather well muscled. He also appeared to be at least like a human, considering it had hands. The creature also had claws though, which weren't bared against her and were instead just covering her eyes. She heard wings rustling behind her, and she felt herself stuck somewhere between confusion and fear at the strangely familiar touch. He began to talk to her, quietly in her ear. His voice was definitely male, and it was gruff with a slight Brooklyn accent in it.

"This is just a dream," the stranger purred to her in a strangely comforting way. "Don't listen to them. Its just a dream."

She forced herself to slowly accept what the stranger was telling her, taking in a deep breath and forgetting the screams and cries of agony, and most of all, that horrible laughter that was echoing out across her dream. When she did, it all vanished, leaving only silence and her strange savior who had still yet to move. Unsure what to do, or if she should look to see who or what this thing really was, she took a shaking breath.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"No," another voice asked, an older, definitely female voice. "the question is, who are you?"

"I'm," Ailah said, confusion entering her voice. "I'm just me."

"You are certainly more than you appear," the old woman said. "You called out to me in your dreams, certainly nothing a normal human could do. Or perhaps I called out to you. You can never be sure, not when the Digignomes are granting wishes. Sometimes they grant the wishes in our hearts that even we don't know yet. So tell me child, do you wish to hear what I have to say?"

Ailah paused a moment, unsure what to say. She couldn't see this creature and she wasn't entirely sure she wanted to. That dream still freaked her out, and she was still dreaming? Who was this man, or this woman, if they even were human at all? She knew all about the Digignomes. They had been created at the same time as the digital world, strange creatures that granted the wishes of humans and Digimon alike, the strange beings that had probably made the partnership between humans and Digimon more than just stories in the first place. She slowly nodded to the old creature, who made a deep humming noise in the back of her throat. For a long time, nothing seemed to happen until Ailah heard the old creature take a deep breath and begin speaking.

 _Seven hidden angels face a gathering storm  
_ _though shrouded they remain for now.  
_ _When the seven Lords of Sin fall the  
_ _world will turn its back on them.  
_ _When the sins turn then to virtue  
_ _an ancient enemy will be revealed.  
_ _Amid those rising tides none can stand,  
_ _least not while the seven demons sleep.  
_ _The seven angels will then appear,  
_ _from the ashes will rise a forgotten kingdom.  
_ _A war for both worlds will begin as the  
_ _virtuous sins unlock the forbidden gates.  
_ _A terrible foe will then be released,  
_ _and the demons, though their origins are dark,  
_ _will become the angels to fight for the light._

"Seven...Angels?" Ailah asked, utterly confused. "What does that mean?"

"That is something for you to discover, child," the old creature said. "I can keep you no longer. You must awaken. But remember, you are not as alone as you may believe. The wish makers can grant many requests, including those you don't realize you have yet."

* * *

Before Ailah could ask anything else, her eyes opened and she found herself in her bedroom. Ailah sighed deeply as she sat up, looking around and taking in the familiar sights. Nothing was blasted open. The night was quiet and completely massacre free. But it didn't make her feel any less uneasy. What had that been? What had she just seen? Slowly, Ailah stood and made her way over to the closet, where a mirror hand been left hanging on the outside of the door. The rims of it were decorated with stickers and painted over in some places, making it look way more girly than it had been before. Though of course, Ailah would never tell Victoria that because well, the older girl had been her only friend for a long time, seeing how everyone else thought she was weird. She didn't dress or act like other girls her age, which made her an easy target.

She stared intently at her reflection, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. She was the same girl with shoulder length brown hair and bright blue eyes that almost always seemed to change colors according to what she was wearing, or sometimes apparently according to her mood. Right now, they seemed to be an almost stormy gray color. She had pale skin, like she'd never been outside a day in her life, and she was thin and well built for a fifteen year old. Not that anyone ever really saw it.

She was content to dress up like a tomboy. While most girls her age were focused on boys and makeup, she like to write stories and tended to have her nose in a book or her the newest sheet of notebook paper for her to write it down on when she was away from her computer at home. Besides, it was easier to keep up with a so called "hard copy" when she was on the go. Because of that though, no one really ever seemed to hang out with her except for Victoria.

That was, until Gabumon had showed up. He was a sweet little digimon and rather shy at times, but he liked Ailah well enough and had always seemed to be willing to hang out with her. When people found out though Victoria had been shipped out of the normal school system and straight into the Digital Academy, where students with Digimon Partners lived their lives with whole different career choices and such because of their partners. There were plenty of people without digimon Partners, like Ailah, but it didn't make her any less lonely.

Still, for once Ailah was pretty glad to see herself looking completely normal as she stared in the mirror. So that had all just been a dream...right? If it was a dream, it had certainly been a very realistic one, and one that sure didn't want to have again anytime soon. She let out a sigh. The dream was still bothering her a lot. She needed some fresh air.

Ailah quickly grabbed a pair of jeans, a red t-shirt and some socks and changed out of her pajamas, tossing them into the dirty clothes hamper. She grabbed a light jacket and threw it on as she tied her shoes and went down the stairs. She didn't bother being quiet since she didn't have any younger siblings and her parents had been off out of town for some meeting thing they had together. It was great they got to work together and all, but they often left Ailah home alone. After locking the door behind her she made her way down the street, letting out a soft sigh in the crisp night air. She wished sometimes she didn't have such an active imagination.

The worst part about it though, was that Ailah wasn't entirely sure that it WAS her imagination. What if something of that had been true? She couldn't quite remember all of it, but she definitely knew that she had heard that prophecy. It still made no sense to her and continued to ring in her head. Then there was that stranger who had saved her from the images in her head. Had he been a digimon? He certainly didn't seem like any human she'd ever met. But if he was a digimon, why did she feel like she knew him, and why would he appear at all.

She heard talking down the street ahead of her, and quickly remembered that even if no one was home, the town had a curfew for people who were under the age of eighteen. She was only fifteen, and so she quickly ducked into an alleyway, carefully hiding out of sight and hoping the clouds above threatening rain would keep any digimon from smelling her from where she was. Soon two figures appeared in the street ahead of her, a Digimon Ranger and his partner, an Agumon.

The Ranger was only around eighteen or nineteen at most, and obviously patrolling for any danger or kids like her who were out of bed. He had long black hair that was pulled into a braid behind his back, and he had piercing sapphire eyes. The dark blue uniform, covered in white stripes and belt full of all sorts of strange gadgets instantly marked him as a Digimon Ranger and not some random kid passing down the street. His partner was a tall orange dinosaur like creature with green eyes, and red armbands that formed an x over his wrists and claws. The two continued to talk as they made their way past, and they seemed highly unnerved about something. Though she knew that the digimon should have scented her, and that if that Ranger had been paying enough attention that he would have also noticed her if he had cared to look, they continued past her. The subject of their conversation quickly grabbed her attention.

"I'm telling you Chris," Agumon said to his distracted partner. "its not natural. All these recent Biomerges...every time another Digimon comes through they either cause issues or find a human partner as soon as possible. Its like they're scared of something. I haven't been home in years, so I wouldn't know."

"We have been getting reports of unease in the Digital World," Chris sighed. "Unfortunately we don't have a clue about what's going on. But with so many new Digimon Tamers in the world, its almost like they're trying to prepare for a war. Too bad all of them who come through don't seem to really know what's going on."

"Something really strong came through this time," Agumon added, obviously unnerved by this. "Why do you think we haven't seen anything yet?"

"Who knows?" Chris asked, shrugging as they finally passed out of view from where Ailah was sitting and fell silent as they continued to walk.

Ailah didn't move for a long time, not until she was completely sure that they were gone. She was interested in what they had to say, but didn't really want to see if they were too distracted to get her in trouble for being out so late. She was already in boiling water for the last couple of weeks since Victoria had been moved to Digital Academy and her grades had suffered. She didn't need to have a citation written up as well. Ailah didn't know why, she just knew that she felt like she needed to be out here right now.

Once she was completely sure they were gone, she ventured back out into the street and rubbed her arms. The light jacket provided some protection, but the safety orange material did nothing to stop the wind when it blew against her and raised bumps on her flesh. It was biting and bitter, warning that winter was coming and was going to be more dreadful than ever. She continued on her way, her mind beginning to wander back towards the conversation she had overheard earlier. She couldn't deny it was true. Even Gabumon had seemed to be afraid when she met him. He said he didn't know anything other than rumors, but she could tell he had been hiding something.

If what those two had said was true, then there was definitely something going on, and she wasn't sure she wanted to find out what. Digimon were much stronger than humans after all, and even their baby forms could do a lot of damage to a human who was stuck alone if they decided to attack. So if the Digimon were scared of whatever was going on, there was a good reason for humans to be too. Even so, they didn't say anything. Maybe they weren't trying to cause a panic by telling them? Maybe they thought they could handle it or didn't want the humans involved? That would be what she would probably do in that situation at least.

She continued on her way, not sure where she was going or why, but as her mind continued to think up possible reasons and expectations, she let her feet wander where they wanted. She knew this part of town fairly well, so she wouldn't have an issue getting home. The streets were strangely deserted, all the windows pulled shut and closed so that those living behind them wouldn't have to look out at something. Once she realized this, she began to wonder if she should go home. After all, if something powerful had Biomerged near here, she didn't exactly want to meet the creature. Ailah paused, starting to turn around, but stopping herself.

Why? There was no logical reason why she should, but something inside her seemed to be whispering to her to stay. She needed to be here, though she had no idea why. She closed her eyes and let out a defeated sigh, her breath turning to mist in front of her face in the frigid air. She wished she could know what was going on. Everything around here was happening so quickly and she didn't know where to turn. Maybe she was just overreacting to the dream she had just had. She always was one to get overly anxious when things happened. Ailah was often bullied, not that she seemed to outwardly care much, though she was often quiet. Her lack of friends didn't help the matter, and she didn't really know how to talk to people. Even so, the dream bothered her more than a nightmare normally would.

A giggle overhead made Ailah jump and look up in surprise. She relaxed nearly immediately when she saw the glowing white creature. It had big black eyes and a wide mouth, large hands and tiny legs with a thin body. It circled her in the air, grabbing at her hair and clothes, giggling more as it continued to circle her. This was a digignome, a wish granter. They were said to grant wishes to people who wanted them and only seemed to live to make people happy. She wasn't entirely sure why it seemed interested in her of all people.

The digignome suddenly grabbed her wrist in its hands, cooing and tugging her after it. Ailah hesitated only a moment before she smiled again and stepped after the creature so that it would take her to where it was trying to lead her. It took her off the main street down an alleyway that at least had most of the trash tucked into the dumpsters where they belonged. The narrow strip between two buildings brought them out towards the park, where she quickly noticed that several of the trees had been stripped of their leaves. Was this where that thing had Biomerged?

She only continued to follow the giggling being because of what it was. Digignomes were playful but kind and often kept people safe. She wasn't entirely sure where it wanted to take her, but as they drew closer she could see that police lined the area and the crater where something had crashed into the ground. The whole that had been caused was huge, and Ailah gulped deeply when she saw it. Whatever had caused it had to be pretty big. The Digignome didn't tug her towards it anymore, but towards a children's playground in the park.

The Ranger from earlier and his partner were here, looking over everything. The rest of the Rangers and Police weren't near here however, more focused on the apparent blast site that had been caused when the creature had Biomerged. They looked up quickly when they heard her coming, but they didn't ask why she was out when they saw the Digignome dragging her towards them. They both frowned, knowing that the beings were very persistent but obviously not happy with it having (at least as far as they knew) dragging her out here when something like that this was happening. The creature ignored them though and dragged her right towards an overturned flowerpot near the wall. There hadn't been anything in it in a while, and the city hadn't picked it up. A crack ran along the side of it, but the Digignome just giggled and pointed at it.

Ailah blinked at it, but then knelt down in front of it and peered inside in the darkness. She could hear Chris and Agumon step closer, obviously interested in what she would find, considering the creature who had dragged her all the way out here. Her eyes narrowed as she peered inside, hearing labored breathing from within. A child? The shape within was certainly no larger than a toddler, but then she realized she was looking at dark purple _fur._

A digimon then? She reached inside carefully, her fingertips brushing over the soft fur. She could feel the various wounds on the creature's body. Digimon didn't really bleed like they did, but you could tell when one of them was injured. Slowly she inched her head into the space, her shoulders covering the mouth of the large flowerpot so the two behind her (who had stepped forward and were now chattered at angrily by the Digignome) couldn't see in. As she did, she could finally get a glimpse of the creature she was seeing.

The dark purple fur made it nearly impossible to see him in the darkness. His feet had three ivory claws, but he wore a dark red bandana and gloves to match over his three claws. His face was startlingly white, and his nose was black, but you couldn't see that since his back had been turned to the front of the flowerpot. A yellow smiley face sat on his stomach, with a single fang on it. His ears rose above his head upwards but pointed down at the end, almost like a dog's might, and he had a tiny tail. It gave him an eerie but cute appearance. His eyes opened for a moment, a striking emerald green, but they were unfocused and pained, and he obviously didn't really see her.

Ailah carefully reached forward, lifting the digimon as carefully as she could and cradling him against her chest. She didn't know why, but she felt like she had to protect him now. She couldn't let something happen to him now. He was already obviously hurt, enough that he had crawled into this pot to hide from whatever had done this to it. Maybe he had been hurt in the Biomerge? He couldn't be any older than a rookie, so she doubted he was the "powerful being" that had come from the digital world. As she moved him though, she paused as she saw something tumble out of his claws and onto the bottom of the flower pot.

She slowly and carefully put the creature down and then picked up the object. It was yellow, and seemed to glow just slightly in the light. It was a choker as far as she could tell, the pendant hung on a dark place leather strap and through a metal ring that almost made it look like a dog tag. The pendant was a dark black color, but the symbol in the middle was what glowed yellow. It looked like a seal of some kind, a circle with another circle inside of it. She thought she could just make out the sign for a female in it, and the words "level 6", but other than the larger symbol in the middle she couldn't spot anything else.

The symbol in the middle felt oddly familiar to her, though she couldn't have placed where if she had tried. It appeared to be a rectangle, though just before completing the leg on the bottom both sides of the rectangle curved upwards at a ninety degree angle. Part of a second, smaller rectangle laid in the middle of this one, crossing over the two smaller legs that were inside the first and only had the bottom and two side legs in it. This formed the strange symbol that she could tell just by looking at it had much more significance than just some necklace he had been hanging onto.

Ailah quickly picked up the creature, stuffing the choker into her pocket and making sure it would stay. Then she carefully backed her way up with the now unconscious digimon in her arms, turning to face the Ranger and his partner, as well as the now cooing again Digignome. The two stared in surprise at the little digimon that Ailah was now cradling carefully to her chest. Now that he was somewhat in the light, it was obvious that he was hurt.

"He's hurt pretty bad," Agumon commented. "Looks like he got caught up in this. He doesn't have a partner though."

"Poor guy," Chris sighed. He didn't ask how Agumon knew he didn't have a partner. Digimon could just tell by looking at each other. "He needs help. Come with me. We'll get him somewhere he can rest-."

Chris was cut off by the Digignome, who seemed to be chastising him now. Chris and Agumon could only blink at the creature, almost surprised. It was obvious that the being was telling them off for having considered it, and then it flew back to Ailah. Something glowed between its hands, and then floated down onto the digimon curled up in the girl's arms. She sucked in a breath in surprise when she saw it. It was a white thing, about the size of her palm, with a dark purple strap and a purple ring in the middle over the small square screen. A slot in the side would be used for sliding power up cards to help the digimon Partner.

"He didn't have a partner," Agumon mused aloud, pointing at the item, known as a D-Ark, which was now also in Ailah's arms.

Ailah couldn't help but stare at the foreign object. She knew what it was of course, the same strange device that many people with a digimon partner had, but it didn't mean that it made it any easier to simply accept for her. Of course, since digimon were largely based off of a popular anime series and card game (the same that were used for power ups for real digimon) there were other kinds of digivices out there, each with their own advantages and disadvantages.

Still, she'd never imagined that she'd get one. Did the digignome grant her wish to be able to see Victoria more often again? Or maybe it was a wish this digimon made. No one could deny though that she had a digivice now, and apparently her new partner, curled up in her arms. Chris sighed and pulled out his own D-Ark, which had a red strap and red ring. The image of the rookie curled up in his arms appeared, with the creature smiling mischievously and balancing a ball of fire on the tip of its finger.

"Name: Impmon," he read aloud. "Type: Evil. Attribute: Virus. Level: Rookie. Impmon is an Evil Digimon whose name and design are derived from the mythological imp. It has an appearance like a demon's child. It loves pranks, so it enjoys seeing the embarrassed appearances of its opponents. Also, it is said that when Impmon appears, electrical appliances temporarily go crazy, so an electronic image going out of order or ceasing to function might be because Impmon was pulling a prank. Although it is a Digimon that loves mischief and malice, it never toadies up to the strong, but stands up to them with a strong attitude. However, the truth is that it has a lonely side. Attacks: Bada-Boom and Summon."

"Kind of a strange partner to have," Agumon pointed out suspiciously, eying the creature. That was true of course, seeing how no one ever seemed to have "evil" (though each creature of course was an individual just like humans) Digimon Partners. Virus type Digimon were rare to have as partners. Even so, Aliah held the creature closer and turned away from Agumon slightly. Chris seemed to sigh more deeply.

"Can't argue with the Digignomes, buddy," he pointed out to his partner, who seemed to reluctantly admit the point. "Anyway, this little guy's had enough. You should at least get him home and let him rest. Digimon do heal rather fast, but you should try and make him comfortable. This little guy" he motioned over his shoulder to the giggling Digignome that was circling the group. "isn't going to let us help him, but you're his partner. Do you have any cards?"

"U-Uh," Ailah finally managed to find her voice. "Yeah. I used to play the card game a lot." Chris just nodded to her, not surprised. Almost everybody played the game.

"If you've got any heal cards, use them," he instructed. "They won't help much, but its something. I'm Chris Nite by the way, and this is my partner Agumon."

"Nice to meet you," Agumon mumbled distractedly.

"I'm Ailah," she said. "Ailah Hollingsworth. And...well I guess you already met my...partner?" The word still seemed odd on her tongue, as if she was still dreaming and hadn't managed to wake up yet. This was officially too much to take in. The nightmare had been bad enough, and now this? If everything happened for a reason, she was officially lost. The Digignome just giggle unhelpfully again.

"Agumon and I will walk you home," Chris offered suddenly. "Its not safe out tonight."

"T-Thanks," she mumbled quietly.

"Well come on then," Agumon called, trying to look cheerful but obviously still not trusting Impmon. "Lead on. We'll get you home safe and sound."

Ailah paused a moment, glancing the still form of her new Partner. She knew they were right though, and he needed help even if she didn't really know him yet. She nodded and turned, leading them back down the same path they had taken to get here originally. The Digignome went giggling away again into the night, having fulfilled its apparent mission here. The whole way back, Ailah was uncomfortably aware of the fact that Agumon continued to glare at her, or rather, the small form that was in her arms. Ailah had never been so glad to see that same, familiar house that was far too close to the neighbor's town house for her liking before.

"Why are the lights off?" Chris asked.

"My parents are sleeping," she lied quickly, though they seemed to believe her because they just shrugged and raised their hands to her in farewell.

"See you later then," Chris said. "and stay inside tonight. Its too dangerous."

Ailah muttered that she would and quickly ran to the front door, unlocking it and disappearing inside before they could ask her anything else. She wouldn't have known what to tell them, and she was glad to get inside. It was much warmer in here, and even Impmon's fur was cool to the touch. She carefully locked the door back and carried him back upstairs. She laid him carefully on the bed as she created a small little nest of pillows and blankets in the corner of the room where he could rest more comfortably during the night. After depositing him there, she took off her jacket and tossed it on the bed, making her way back over to the closet.

She quickly dug through the bottom of it, finding a tin box where she kept all of her cards for the game, quite a collection if she thought so herself. She quickly pushed the card reader out of the way as she opened it. She didn't exactly need it now that she had an actual D-Ark, and it wouldn't do much good. She rummaged through it until she found a Hyper Heal card, then quickly grabbed the D-Ark from where it had tumbled through the floor. She positioned the card and the Digivice, pausing a moment as she held it there.

Was she really doing this? The Digignome had given her this D-Ark, but how could she really be sure that he was supposed to be her Partner? Virus type Digimon were rarely partners to humans, and she'd never heard of one that had been "evil" before now. She shook the thoughts off. She had to protect him. She just sensed that somewhere deep inside herself. If that wasn't proof enough that he was her partner, then nothing else would be. She slashed the card through it, quickly muttering the words she needed to in order to activate it.

"Digimodify," she said. "Hyper Heal Activate."

Immediately the screen on the D-Ark glowed, and a similar light surrounded the unconscious Impmon. Many of his wounds seemed to disappear, proving yet farther that this creature was now her Partner. The D-Arks would only work for the Digimon that they belonged to, and only in the hands of the human partnered with them. Ailah sighed and made a mental note to make a deck of her best cards to start carrying on her belt for him. Impmon groaned as his wounds began to heal and finally stirred, quickly gaining Ailah's interest.

She knew she was staring at him sheepishly as those emerald green eyes opened, blinking in the unfamiliar but still dark room. His eyes landed on the human girl, and a scowl soon reached his features as he saw her sitting there. He hadn't noticed the D-Ark yet, but he did seem to notice that he didn't look (or probably feel) as bad. The tiny stub that was his tail twitched just a little bit as he looked up at her.

"Where am I?" he asked in a child like voice with a Brooklyn Accent that quickly tugged at her memories.

"My house," she explained, putting the D-Ark down and putting the card back in the box. "I found you out in the park. Are you...feeling okay?"

"Look _toots_ ," the digimon growled, seeming agitated. "You DON'T want me around. I'm nothing but bad news. So you're going to show me the way out of here or I'm jumping through that window." He pointed out the window behind her bed. She sighed.

"You can't leave," she attempted to explain.

"And why not?" he growled. "Listen kid, I'm nothing but trouble. You're only going to get hurt if I stick around. I NEED to go."

"But you can't," Ailah said again.

"Why NOT?"

Ailah held up the digivice that was still in her hands. His emerald eyes went wide as he saw them, just staring at the D-Ark that he had finally seemed to notice. Or maybe he had noticed it before, but hadn't thought it meant it was his. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but then quickly shut it, obviously having nothing to say. His eyes slowly moved up to meet her own, staring at her with wide eyes. It was obvious that Impmon was looking for some way to prove to himself that he wasn't her partner, but her eyes said it all. One gloved hand smacked into his face in what was clearly a facepalm. Ailah almost laughed, until she heard what he said.

"You've got to be kiddin' me," he groaned. "Me? Why me? With everything I've done, what makes me even able to…? The Sovereigns have to be laughing at me somewhere..."

Ailah was even more confused than before. He seemed rather childish at times, though again, he was in his Child/Rookie Form. Yet at the same time, he seemed to be much older than that and almost seemed to be so much more serious. Then there was his voice. She was almost sure she'd heard it somewhere before, but she also felt like she'd known this digimon for a long time. Maybe it was just a partners thing. She'd never really asked Victoria how she'd felt when she'd met her Digimon Partner, but then again, she really didn't know many people who actually had Digimon partners. Suddenly she wondered if she'd done something wrong.

"I-I'm sorry," she said quietly. Impmon looked up in surprise at her, and his eyes seemed to soften a little bit.

"H-Hey toots," he said. "it's not your fault. Really. I'm not mad or anythin'." He sighed. "You healed me right? Thanks… the name's Impmon." Ailah looked up at the creature for a long moment.

"Ailah," she said quietly.

He offered her a mischievous and fanged smile as she looked up at him, offering her a tiny claw. After pausing a moment, she stood and made her way back over, offering her own hand. They shook hands, and he seemed to watch for her reaction. He obviously realized something and started looking around wildly for whatever he was missing. Ailah stared in surprise, wondering why he looked so absolutely defeated and terrified in that instant.

"Are you missing something?" she asked. Realization dawned on her, and she ran over to her jacket and pulled out the pendant. "Oh wait, is this it?"

Nearly as soon as Impmon saw it, she saw him relax. All the tension and fear left his shoulders, and she could see some relief and hope sparking in his eyes. She had no idea why it was that important to him, but she could tell that it certainly was very important. It was probably the same thing that made her pick it up in the first place. More than just seeing it and realizing it belonged to him, she knew that it was extremely important and if she didn't quickly give it back that something would happen. She knew it was more than it seemed.

"Thanks," he muttered quietly.

"No problem," she said, handing it back to him and sitting down again with a sigh. "A Digignome just led me out to meet you, though I ran into an Agumon and his Partner, a Digimon Ranger named Chris. You were really hurt when we found you, and then the Digignome gave me that D-Ark. So I took you back here and healed you up."

"Sorry about earlier," he said, seeming to smile at her gently this time. "Thanks for finding this. Its...its really important to me." He put the choker on under his bandana, which effectively hid it from view. She shook her head.

"Sure," she muttered, feeling extremely awkward. "I guess...I'll go to bed again now. Good night, Impmon."

Ailah quickly got into bed, tossing her shoes into the corner of the room. She was aware that Impmon was staring at her back the whole time as she curled up, hoping to get some sleep before tomorrow started and she had to go to school again. It didn't seem like Impmon was comfortable with the thought of having a Partner, and she wasn't sure what to do. The dream was still bothering her greatly, and her rather mysterious partner wasn't helping anything.

She at last gave up and closed her eyes, hoping to at least get some sleep before all of this was over. There wasn't much else she could to but hope no more nightmares would plague her tonight.

* * *

A small black shape darted through the once dark passages and hallways that made up this tunnel system. It used to connect to a city, but it had been abandoned for months because of the threat their silent enemies posed. The whole digital world seemed strangely silent today, not that this particular Digimon cared at the moment. She couldn't help but sigh in relief when she reached the dark caves, glad that she had made it back safely. As soon as she had though, she frowned and found herself more worried than before. She'd gone out there in the hopes of finding the last of their number, but she hadn't found anything. This did little to comfort her.

She appeared to be a small black cat, with amber colored eyes and purple stripes. She wore gloves, which had three claws on it, and she stood mostly on her two back legs. Her large ears had purple tufts on them with three spikes, and the same tuft appeared at the end of her tail. Her eyes were narrowed and her ears were laid back as her tail flicked, showing her obvious agitation. She couldn't help it though. She hated to feel helpless, and she hadn't felt so completely powerless in a very long time.

She sighed though and made her way into the room where they had been spending most of their time, the few servants they had left who even knew they were alive rushing to get out of her way and bowing slightly to her. She didn't respond to them either way and continued until she found what she was looking for, a room full of digieggs. Four of them remained, each on a small stone slab with a symbol under them, the crests missing. One of these crests, she already carried with her, a green crest that seemed to glow and be filled with power. Another, an red one, was held by another. The rest were orange, blue, teal and purple. Each of the eggs were supposed to have one of these strange crests under them. These had all been lost, but another they were completely unsure of the fate of, the yellow one. Its owner too was missing, not even a digiegg here.

"Did you find him?" came a soft and gentle voice from behind her.

She turned to look, seeing a familiar creature. He appeared to look like a human child, but he was also a digimon. He was pale and had sort blonde hair. Two white wings adorned the sides of his head, and six more white wings sprouted from his back. His eyes were a bright and icy blue, seeming to stand out even more against his skin, and purple markings covered part of his face, chest, left arm and left leg. Golden holy rings sat on his wrists and ankles. Even in this weakened form, she knew him instantly. She sighed and shook her head, and all of his wings seemed to fall in a slight defeat. They only did so for a moment though, and soon they raised again. A determined look met his features.

"I refuse to believe that Beelzemon died," he said, sounding sure. "We'll find him BlackGatomon. I'm sure we will." The cat's ears flicked as he said this.

"How can you even be sure?" BlackGatomon asked. "He could be anywhere, Lucemon, if he is alive that is."

"We have to hope he lives," Lucemon replied. "He's strong, but that just seems to be in his nature. As far as we know, they haven't gotten his crest yet, which is a blessing at least."

"Why do they even need them?" she hissed, her tail wiping back and forth. "We're the only ones that can use them! It doesn't make sense."

"It doesn't matter," Lucemon growled in reply. "They're powerful, and they want them for something. We have to keep them away from them as long as possible. Which is why it's even more important that we find Beelzemon!"

BlackGatomon sighed, but knew Lucemon was right. They were crippled without all seven, and most of them had been defeated so badly that they'd been forced into Digieggs. They could have easily taken those attacking them, but they refused to be like the first generation and become mindless murderers. They'd all been working far too long for peace for that, even if they all thought they were evil. However it seemed that they were even more defeated than they had thought. The whole world thought they were dead, and only BlackGatomon and Lucemon Child Mode had managed to hatch yet. There was no telling what had happened to Beelzemon or where he was, and the others were all Digieggs. It was a bitter defeat. Still, they both knew their crests were powerful, and they were only sure of two that had truly escaped their enemy. Whatever they were planning on using those for, they doubted it was good.

"We'll find him," she assured him, purring gently though she didn't believe it herself. This seemed to relax her companion though, which was a blessing in itself. "But for now we need to try and gather our strength. There are far too many enemies around for us to go rushing off now, and there's no telling if anyone had seen me come back in."

"Fine," Lucemon growled reluctantly. "I'll wait. But I won't wait forever."

The prideful Digimon turned and quickly left, flying out of the room quickly and leaving the cat behind. Her ears fell as she again felt the hopelessness of the situation and then turned to look back at the eggs. She didn't have any clue how long they'd have to wait before there was any hope of them hatching, and she'd never been one for praying. But right now she was hoping for a miracle.

* * *

 **There we go. The end of chapter one. Remember that this book is part of a four book series that I'll be putting out, along with another trilogy that will probably be coming out at around the same time. I have no idea how much I'll update or how often, but I do have everything planned out and I hope that you'll at least enjoy this story.**

 **If you have enjoyed it so far, feel free to leave a review below to tell me what you think of it. This is an AU, and I'll try to stay true to "canon" as much as possible, but I'm not making any promises.**

 **This will be the last we see of Lucemon Child Mode and BlackGatomon for quite a while, and the rest won't appear for an even longer time than that. Anyway, that's all from me for now.**


	2. Silence: Impmon's Chains

**Here we go with chapter two. I'm still planning and getting ready to write the first chapter of my other story, the Fated Trilogy, but I'm working on this one until I feel I'm completely ready to actually start the story. There may also be a sequel trilogy to the Fated Trilogy called the Destined Trilogy, but I can't promise anything since I haven't finished writing the other first or even posted the first chapter.**

 **Anyway, I'm continuing right along with this story. Things will start heating up around chapter three, which I might post if I finish writing it some time today just because this chapter is going to be one of the few "down" chapters in this story.**

 **And now, in the immortal words of my older sister (who Victoria is actually based off of): "Are you done with chapter two yet?"**

 **Well, I guess I am now, aren't I?**

* * *

Chapter Two: Silence: Impmon's Chains

* * *

 _There are always things we can't change, no matter how many times we wish we could. I'd had moments like that before now, but they were all silly little moments, things that seemed so big at the time but now seemed so stupid to me. Like the time when I said something that made the other kids laugh at me and made myself look like a fool, or when I accidentally stepped on someone's shoe and somehow made an enemy for life. I can promise you that I'd rather face things like this every single day than what my partner felt._

 _He wasn't evil, and I almost always seemed to have to remind him of this back then. We aren't defined by our natures or even the ways we were raised. None of that makes up an excuse for how anyone lives their lives because its our choices and actions that matter. Even if someone was raised to think that they should hate everyone, it was up to them to let that kind of thinking rule them, or to become strong enough to choose a different path. Impmon had definitely chosen a different path, even though everything about what he was should have made him into the monster that everyone else already seemed to think he was._

 _I don't think I could ever really tell anyone the ways that Impmon managed to inspire me daily, but in the beginning we weren't so close. We were both unsure how to take the new changes that had come about in our lives, especially considering who and what Impmon really was. I wasn't sure how I was supposed to handle all the weird things that had been happening at that point. I couldn't even explain it to myself, so how could I explain it to anyone else? That first night and day were really the hardest, and what made it worse was that I didn't understand._

 _Later when I did, both Impmon and I couldn't help but wonder why the Digignomes had chosen us. I was nothing special, and he was what the entire Digital World hated. We had been thrust together into this battle that we probably shouldn't have won, let alone survived. Maybe that was their plan all along though, to make us both realize how much stronger we were than we thought. There were many doubts and questions that had held us down, making us believe that we were not the right ones for the job. Funny how the Digignomes always have different ideas._

 _But there's one thing Impmon definitely taught me more than anything else, and that was that the chains of our past weigh much more that anyone else could understand. Sometimes though, it doesn't hurt to have someone else bear the load with you._

* * *

Ailah yawned as her alarm clock went off, reminding her far too early that she had school today. Her sleep last night had been fitful, full of the threat of nightmares and the images of horror she had already witnessed before. She didn't want to close her eyes for fear of what she might actually find when she did, the words of the strange prophecy still ringing in her head and giving her an uneasy feeling. Whenever she dozed off she could remember the prophecy perfectly, but when she awoke it left her with little more than a warning feeling of dread. She knew that something was coming, but as to what that actually was, she had no idea.

She got up and hit the off button on her Alarm Clock, glancing toward the little nest of blankets that had become Impmon's unofficial bed while she tried to sort out her own feelings about the odd way they'd met. He was still hurt and obviously tired since the buzzing noise from the digital clock hadn't even made him stir. He continued to sleep peacefully, though every now in then his ears and tail would twitch. He was certainly a very strange partner to have, but Ailah wasn't really complaining. How could she? The Digignome made the choice for them.

Ailah shook her head and walked over to the closet, pulling out a fresh change of clothes and going to the bathroom, where she started getting ready for the day. She didn't want to change in the room in front of Impmon. He may be a Digimon, but he was still a guy and she didn't doubt he already knew at least some of the customs that humans had. They'd both end up getting embarrassed by that. As she changed into a fresh pair of jeans and her favorite red shirt (the one that had a smiley face not unlike the one that Impmon had on his stomach, only white) she stared at her reflection in the mirror, feeling like she still hadn't woken up.

How was she supposed to explain to everyone about her partner who had, as far as she was aware, literally appeared out of no where? Then there was that event last night, where something big had Bioemerged from the Digital World but was apparently no where in sight. In the same area, she had found Impmon, and then been basically commanded to accept him as her Partner by a Digignome. No one had Digimon whose alignments were Evil as a partner, though she supposed there was a first time for everything.

Then again, Impmon didn't really seem evil. He could act childish at times, often like mischievous rookie he seemed to be, but more often than not he just seemed to be so much older than he appeared, and so much more mature. He was keeping secrets, and she didn't know what to think about that. They were supposed to be partners, equals, and yet here he was talking in riddles and trying to convince her that he needed to go. They both knew that wasn't possible though. Partners were often chosen by the Digignomes, and once they were chosen a strange bond connected them. They wouldn't be able to stay away from each other.

Ailah went back to her room, finding the quiet house more unbearable than ever. Her parents would be back this weekend some time, but she wasn't entirely sure how she was supposed to explain to anyone about her Partner. More than likely, people would just panic at the sight of an "Evil" Digimon and want to run away as fast as possible. Of course, Ailah knew that each Digimon, like each person, was an individual that could make their own decisions, but people wouldn't care. They'd just look at him like he was some kind of monster without getting to know him. Ailah glanced at the D-Ark from where it was sitting on the ground.

She tossed it into her backpack, grabbing a small deck of cards (the best from her large collection) and wound a rubber band around it since she didn't have a belt box like everyone else. She'd never needed one before now. She didn't want anyone at school to notice that she had a partner now. She didn't know why, but he didn't seem to want to tell anyone his secrets. Not that she could really blame him. She'd never been one to open up to people either. She'd tried before, and most people had hated her for wanting to write instead of being obsessed with the things most girls seemed to be. Victoria had been the only one to really understand her, but she had been older than her and also in a completely different class.

Ailah shook the thoughts out of her head as she zipped up her backpack and grabbed one of the various spiral notebooks that were hidden around the room. She pulled out a piece of paper and wrote a note to the Digimon on it, leaving it next to him on the ground. Then she quickly stood and grabbed the last of her things, heading out to go to school. She wasn't going to say anything at all about her new Partner. He didn't even seem to want to be here. But she wasn't too bothered about it, quickly going down stairs to make some breakfast.

It wasn't like what her mother made, but she heated up some leftover sausage and made some eggs. She ate it quickly, setting the rest on a plate and then taking it back upstairs. Impmon had yet to move, so she sat the plate down as quietly as she could next to him. His bruised body seemed to twitch a little as she did, but he didn't wake. Ailah gave him a soft smile before turning and leaving the house again, locking it as always behind her. With a slight sigh she turned and began making her way to school on foot as always.

Her parents had protested this at first, always thinking that it was dangerous to walk alone, but even they had to admit that she was never really alone even when she walked to school like this. There was always someone nearby who had a Digimon Partner, so she'd never really been scared when she walked to school. This town was peaceful, and Police officers and Digimon Rangers lined nearly all the streets as people walked to and from school. Ailah noticed Chris and Agumon not too far away, but quickly sped up, hoping to avoid catching their eye.

Luckily, they didn't notice, so she slipped into the crowd quietly. A sigh of relief touched her lips as she continued on her way, more than happy to be out of sight.

* * *

When Impmon awoke, he almost panicked at the unfamiliar surroundings. However soon a sense of calm washed over him as he remembered where he was and what had happened the night before. He cast his eyes around the room, seeing the bed neatly made with no body lying inside of it. He leaped to his feet before he realized why, feeling yet another wave of panic hit him. Where was that girl? He needed to find her before…

Realization broke over the small purple Digimon. Was he really starting to act like he was her Partner? He'd heard stories before of how things like this could happen, and how connected the Digignome truly made Digimon and Humans, but a frown touched his tiny face then. He didn't want a partner. He could tell this kid wasn't like some humans, and she certainly wasn't going to treat him like he wasn't her equal, but he couldn't put her in danger from continuing to be around her. There was far too much going on, and the best thing to do would be to leave.

Only he couldn't. The instant he thought about it, he wanted to deny he'd ever even thought that this could be a possibility. He didn't want to leave, but he didn't even know this kid. The more he thought about this strange predicament, the more confused and frustrated he became. What would the others think of all of this? Then there were his enemies to consider. He didn't want to drag her into this. The poor kid already looked like she had been run ragged. He stepped out of the makeshift bed, stepping onto the note. He noticed the plate sitting beside it and his mouth began to water, even though the food had been cold for some time. He sat back down and quickly ate it, able to catch the girl's scent on the food. He then picked up the note.

 _Impmon,_

 _I know you don't really seem too keen on the idea of having a Partner, but I think we both know that there's no way we can just ignore this or pretend like it didn't happen. For better or worse, we're stuck together now. Anyway, I made breakfast for you, which I'm sure you already noticed. Its not much, but I've seen how hungry a Rookie level Digimon can get._

 _I'm going to school, and I took some of my cards and the D-Ark with me. Don't worry though, I won't tell anyone about you. I don't know why you want to keep secrets, or why you won't tell me them, but I'm willing to help you keep them. I'll keep on pretending like I don't have a Partner while I'm at school, especially considering what you are. That way, there won't be too many more questions you'll have to avoid._

 _I'll be back around 4 pm. School usually lets out at around 3 pm, but a friend of mine invited me to the park to meet some of her friends from her new school. That's where I'll be for a while. You can come join us if you want, but you don't have to._

 _Get better soon,_

 _Ailah_

The Rookie Digimon couldn't help but blink a little as he read over the note again. Why was she being so nice to him? Why did she care at all? He certainly hadn't done anything to warrant this. Maybe he'd just been living a completely different life up until now. When he had been a young Digimon, newly hatched, he'd lived in a village with many other young Digimon, living a practically normal life. However things had quickly changed, and his face darkened as he remembered his last encounter with anyone from his "family". It hadn't gone well, not that he could really blame one of his brothers for acting that way. It kind of went with the job…

Another reason why he wanted to be away from this girl as soon as possible. She was in danger just from being around him, especially if his enemies continued to hunt him as much as they had in the past. They might have lost him for now, but it wouldn't take long for them to figure out where he was and that would only put that girl in danger. He thought of her again, Ailah, right? She was a sweet girl, though she also seemed a little broken as well. He couldn't help but wonder why she seemed so lonely, and why he felt a need to help her because of it.

He shook his head and noticed a notebook laying on the ground, quickly going over and picking it up. Being a digital being born on the internet he had an almost easy time reading or speaking any language. He still had to stare at it for a while before the scribbles on the page made any sense to him, but when he finally did manage to right them he was kind of surprised. The words on the page were written in a messy but still readable scrawl. The font itself was tiny, as if the writer had been trying to fit as many words on the page as possible. He read over them, feeling slightly that he was looking at something that he shouldn't.

It appeared to be a section of a story, talking about the daring night that had challenged a demon to a battle knowing that he would most likely die but unwilling to let the creature win. While the concept itself seemed to be like almost every other story one could read, the execution was certainly different. Each word and image presented artfully on the page almost seemed to be selected painstakingly to make sure that the reader could almost feel, see, think and sense everything that this knight was. He wasn't the stereotypical hero either, full of faults and guilt all his own. It almost surprised Impmon at how utterly _normal_ this character was.

Was this Ailah's? The lettering on this page certainly matched the hand writing on the note that he had received. Impmon wasn't really a specialist or anything when it came to humans, but he was pretty sure this wasn't the kind of thing a girl her age did. Maybe that's why she was so lonely? Even Digimon would single out and often push away those that were too different for their liking, something he knew well. Still, he couldn't help but be impressed by what he was now reading on the page. It wasn't finished, and words were crossed out here and there as if she couldn't figure out what she wanted to have on the page. However it was obvious she had a passion for writing and enjoyed doing it. The almost self conscious way she had acted last night though told him that she had faced rejection before and had suffered for it.

"What a sweet kid," he muttered to himself quietly.

A sudden giggle made Impmon look up with wide eyes, but nothing more dangerous than a Digignome had appeared. The creature had apparently managed to open the window and was circling around the room. Impmon felt a frown on his face again as he looked up at the creature, feeling more irritated than ever. He knew for a FACT that this thing knew who and what he was, yet he continued to keep bothering him and he knew it was insisting that he be this girl's partner. What did this thing even know about all of what was really going on? Nothing more than anyone else!

"What?" he snapped. "Why do you keep hanging around? I'm NOT putting that girl into any danger by hanging around here, even if you did make us Partners!"

The creature just giggled again and turned, leaving the window wide open so that he could look out of it. Impmon paused as he saw this, wondering what it was trying to say to him. He could leave now and not come back. Ailah wouldn't know where he had gone and she wouldn't have to worry about him making trouble for her. Its what he should have done. He needed to keep this crest safe, and staying where others could get hurt was only going to make things worse. He leaped out of the window, dashing quickly across rooftops and away from the girl's house.

But something held him back, distracting him as he passed various people and Digimon on the street. That's where she would be expecting to see him, where she would be waiting for him. Could he really just leave like this? She was such a sweet girl after all, and he didn't want to make her feel even more lonely… What was he thinking? He would only be a danger to everyone around here if he stayed! Then again, maybe his enemies wouldn't expect him to ally himself with a human, let alone let one be his Tamer. He knew the few allies he had wouldn't expect it.

He paused a moment, glancing around. The Digignome had disappeared from sight, though whether it was the same one or one that had given Ailah her D-Ark or not was not a question he could answer (they all looked the same the annoying little things…). _Their_ D-Ark, he realized. No matter how many times he tried to deny it, the fact remained that he had a Tamer now. This only made his apprehension worse. What would she do when she found out who he really was? She'd hate him no doubt, or be terrified of him. He didn't want to think about that sweet kid having either of those emotions on her face.

As he came to a stop though, he realized he was in a tree in what appeared to be a school yard. He hadn't been paying attention to where he had been going, and certainly hadn't noticed when he'd stopped leaping across buildings and on trees instead. He was surprised as he looked around at the well maintained building and manicured lawns. He didn't know this city, so how would he even know where to go? As he looked in the window just above him though he quickly realized why. He saw Ailah sitting in the desk closest to him and staring off into space towards the front of the room.

Impmon let out a sigh as he saw her, sitting down with his back against the tree to continue waiting here. It seemed like he just couldn't get away from her. His connection to her was very strong, considering he'd subconsciously figured out how to find her and where she would be and went to go meet her. He'd never heard of many Digimon having that ability, but he wasn't exactly a normal Digimon either. He supposed he could follow her around, especially if those Digignomes insisted they be partners.

He didn't have to like it though.

* * *

Ailah couldn't help but sigh a little in relief as the final bell rang. That meant she was that much closer to making it home so that she could check on Impmon. She was really worried about his injuries and what could happen while she was away, which made her pay attention less than usual. For once, she wasn't looking forward to seeing Victoria and Gabumon, though with the fact that she hardly ever got to see her best friend anymore you'd think she'd be more willing to rush off to go meet her at the park. She had bigger issues though.

She'd managed to go the whole day without having someone discover her D-Ark. Not talking about having a partner was easy, since no one ever bothered to talk to her in class anyway, but hiding the little object and the cards had been harder. One of the guys in class seemed to love going through her bag and pulling out her latest writing project, reading some of in front of the class. Usually this would have bothered her as he did this, and she would have tried to get it back, but today she ignored him and held her breath, hoping he wouldn't see her D-Ark. Luckily it had gotten buried at the bottom, and he had thrown the notebook back to her when he didn't get a response.

Now she was hurrying off as fast as she could so that she could get to the park. If she could find any reason to get out of their faster she would. While she loved hanging out with Victoria and Gabumon she really wanted to get home and check on Impmon. With as mischievous as he was supposed to be she hoped he hadn't gotten bored and caused some sort of trouble or something. She was unaware of the small purple shape flashing along the trees and rooftops as she ran towards the familiar park. As she got close, she noticed the crater was still there and roped off.

"Ailah," a voice called, quickly getting her attention.

She quickly noticed her friend, who was waving at her with a bright smile. A small creature next to her also smiled as he noticed her. The girl, Victoria, was shorter than her, wearing the school uniform for Digital Acadmey. The shirt was blue with a large dark blue D on it and a yellow dinosaur on roaring. A similar blue skirt with a yellow fringe and a yellow necktie on it also adorned her. She wore knee high white stockings and black shoes, and her simple school bag was clutched in her left hand. She had her brown hair pulled back in a braid, and her eyes were a dark sky blue color. On the belt around her waist was a deck box and a white D-Ark with a blue ring around the screen and a blue strap.

Next to Victoria was Gabumon, a yellow dinosaur like creature. On his belly was a pink and blue egg, and he had a horn on his head. Fangs stuck out of his top lips even with his jaws closed, though now he was smiling with his jaws open. His eyes were blue, and on his back he wore fur with three claws on it. It was white with blue stripes on it, the thing that definitely gave him a wolf like appearance. It was really the fur of Garurumon, which he would wear when he evolved and became the lupine like creature. Right now though he was an adorable (and much less frightening) Rookie form. The thing was really quite shy, but enjoyed Ailah's company. Since she didn't have a partner he seemed to take it upon himself to protect her as well.

Since she hadn't had a partner. Now that she had one though, well there was no telling how he'd actually react. Ailah put on a smile though and waved back, making her way over to her two friends. As she drew close, Gabumon's nose started to twitch and he began to scent her. He began giving her a strange look, though whatever was on his mind, he didn't voice it. Victoria on the other hand practically squashed the younger girl to her chest. Victoria Pybus was seventeen while Ailah was only fifteen.

"It's so good to see you," Victoria cried. "How are things going at school? Finish that project yet? I know its only been a few weeks but still, it feels like forever!" Ailah just laughed at her friend's hyper attitude.

"I've been doing fine," she lied a little. "And no, I haven't finished it yet. Its good to see you too."

Ailah noticed that Gabumon still continued to watch her, still yet to say anything, so she squatted down next to him and smiled. She reached out to him, completely unafraid of his fangs, and began to scratch him under his scaly chin just like she knew he liked. He blinked at her, but he soon seemed to start purring and leaned his head into her hand. He didn't seem to be able to help doing so and soon he had become almost like a giant kitten. Ailah smiled again at her friend. He sure could be affectionate when he wanted to be, especially if he knew you.

"This is her?" another voice scoffed. "I'm NOT impressed."

"Carly," Victoria's warning voice came, sounding slightly hurt as well. Victoria had always tried to be the peacemaker though.

Aliah looked up to see who Carly was, noticing another girl there. She wore way too much makeup (though at least it didn't look tacky) and wore her school uniform for Digital Academy the same as Victoria. Her nails were done though as was her brown hair, which was parted over her left shoulder and hung well past her waist. Her eyes were a hazel brown color, almost seeing to shimmer a dark brown at the moment. She had her cellphone out and didn't seem to think that Ailah warranted any more of her attention. On the belt around her waist was a deck box and a D-Ark with a pink ring around the screen and a pink strap.

On her shoulder was her Partner, a Gatomon. The feline like Digimon had large back paws and pristine white fur with purple stripes. The cat like creature had big blue eyes and tufts of purple on the end of her tail and her ears, each with three spikes. She wore yellow gloves on her front paws, which also doubled as her hands, that had three claws and brown stripes on them. She seemed more interested in Ailah than her Partner, but turned her nose up at her as soon as she saw her looking.

Off to the side was a boy, the kind that Ailah probably had to hate the most. He was the "cool" kind who liked to pretend he didn't like anyone and usually the kind of guy who picked on her. His uniform was a blue jacket with yellow fringes and the same dark blue D and yellow dinosaur. He wore a white undershirt and a yellow tie, as well as blue pants and black shoes. He was leaning against a tree with his arms crossed, seeming to size Ailah up. His hair was blonde and combed to the left side of his face, over his storm gray eyes. When he saw Ailah looking he flashed her a smirk. On his belt was a card box and a D-Ark with a golden brown ring and strap.

Next to him was his partner, an Elecmon. The little creature had long pointy ears and a rather plump red body. The tips of his ears and lightning like stripes down his back were purple, and he had a white underbelly and brown eyes. His tail was made of several spiked lightning like spikes that also had some purple on them. The creature gave her a smile as she looked at him, and she smiled back. He certainly seemed a lot cooler than his Partner.

"What?" Carly asked. "Its not like anyone cares. You know you'd be way more popular if you just hung out with the right people."

"Yeah," Gatomon added. "People not like HER and Zack."

"Watch your mouth," Gabumon growled, bristling a little and surprising Ailah a little. He really didn't seem to like those two.

"What?" Gatomon teased, flicking her tail and eying him. "You're just at your Rookie level. You really want to pick a fight?"

Gabumon didn't answer, but didn't stop growling now. He put himself stubbornly between Ailah and the two girls. The boy and his Partner were now watching the exchange, seeming much more interested in the situation now than they had been before. Ailah wasn't entirely sure if that was a good or bad thing, but she was uncomfortably aware of how bristled Victoria was. She was the kind of girl to befriend those who didn't have many friends, like Ailah and this kid Zack. Victoria smiled to Ailah though and pointed out the boy and his partner.

"Well," she said. "You've already met Carly and Gatomon. That's Mark and Elecmon."

"Don't waste your breath talking to him," Carly said, flashing her eyes to Mark. "He's way too cool for someone like you. Isn't that right?"

"Shut up," Mark growled to Carly, surprising everyone. For someone who seemed so aloof, he seemed rather interested in the situation now. This only seemed to make Carly hate Ailah more though.

"Whatever," she growled. "Come on Gatomon, we're out of here."

Carly and Gatomon turned, leaving the area as if Ailah had run over and slapped them in the face. Ailah couldn't help but frown as she watched them leave. What had she done to make the two of them so mad? Mark and Elecmon were silent, not seeming to want to get involved. Gabumon finally relaxed as he noticed the two of them had left, though he also continued to growl after them. He didn't seem to agree with his Partner's choice in friends, but Ailah knew it was just in her nature to try and make as many friends as possible. Victoria sighed.

"Sorry Ailah," she said. "This was supposed to be more fun."

"Don't worry about it," Ailah said, managing a smile back. She knew Victoria could tell that it was pained but just raised her hands to soothe her friend. "I should probably get back anyway."

"Do you need us to walk you home?" Gabumon asked worriedly.

"I'll be fine," she assured. "See you later. It was nice meeting you Mark, Elecmon."

"Likewise," Elecmon said in a calm and clear voice, finally breaking his silence. He smiled again at her, which she returned.

"Later," Mark said simply.

"Take care then," Victoria called as Ailah raised a hand in farewell and turned to leave the group behind.

Ailah walked briskly out of the park, turning once again to make her way towards her home. She wasn't really mad about what Carly had said, more confused. Why did she instantly seem to hate her? She supposed that she wasn't going to get an answer any time soon. Besides, she had Impmon to worry about now. No one knew she had a Partner yet, well except Chris and Agumon, but still. She had promised to keep his secret, and she hoped he would be patient enough to wait for her. She continued down the street, until a large boom nearly knocked her off her feet.

She leaped up in surprise, backing away slightly as she realized she was in a fog, or rather a digital field. It was the kind of thing that only appeared when a Digimon Bioemerged in the real world, which wasn't a comforting thought. She froze as she heard something moving within the fog, something very _big._ Two shapes appeared in the fog in front of her, one large enough to stand taller than most of the houses around them. The other was much smaller, only about the same size of a child and floating off the ground.

"Hm?" the smaller creature said. "A human? Perhaps we should attack her. It may draw him out. You know how...caring he is." The larger creature snarled, taking a step forward and making Ailah whimper in fear as she looked up. "Now now, don't kill her. No we need this one alive. We'll capture this one my friend."

"Over my dead body!"

The second exclamation surprised all three of them, and Ailah looked up in surprise to see Impmon leap in front of her, bristling and baring his one single fang at them. The two creatures seemed to pause in surprise, and the smaller creature began to laugh, a chilling sound that made Ailah shiver again. Impmon didn't even glance back at her but continued to step farther in front of her protectively. She wanted to yell at him to run, that he was too hurt, that she didn't want him to die. But she couldn't bring herself to do anything right then. Why now, was she so scared that she couldn't do anything? Some Tamer she was.

"You have a Tamer?" the dark voice laughed. "Truly fate is a fickle thing! And you're only in your Rookie Form, not to mention injured. This will be easy. Perhaps we should kill your little friend there, hm, _Impmon_?" The way he said it made Ailah shudder again, but Impmon seemed completely calm and battle ready. Here again, he acted much older. It calmed her a little.

"Ailah," Impmon called. "Get your D-Ark and cards ready."

Ailah jumped at the order but quickly dropped her bag, grabbing the items in her hands and holding them ready. She was shaking and terrified, but at least she could move now. Their two foes were slowly becoming more visible as they waited, seeming to find the two of them amusing. The tense silence that fell between the battlers set her teeth on edge.

She was not ready for this.

* * *

 **Ooh cliff hangers! Not really since I've already started working on the next chapter so you probably won't be waiting for this one very long. Oh well. Next chapter will have our two heroes joining in our first battle.**

 **I've at least mentioned the names of most of the characters that will be part of our group that is fighting against the "Rogue Tamers" as the story progresses. Anyway, I hope you guys are enjoying the story so far and feel free to leave a review if you'd like.**


	3. Wish! Desires of the Heart!

**Here we go, right on to chapter three. This will have the first battle of the series in it, as well as introduce something that I've never really ever seen someone else do with Impmon in these kind of stories. But whatever. He does have an evolutionary chain, because he had to get to his mega level somehow. I researched it and decided on the one that I liked the best out of all of them, so its not wrong.**

 **Anyway, in the Immortal Words of my little sister (who Carly is based off of): "WHY AM I SUCH A BI***H?!"**

 **Because I needed a character like that. Too bad for you. Enjoy the chapter guys.**

* * *

Chapter Three: Wish! Desires of the Heart!

* * *

 _Are the first steps the hardest? I can say for certain that they are. Just trying to get yourself to move and go into any adventure, no matter how big or small, can be the worst experience ever. Some people never actually take that first step and try and go anywhere, but some people don't get the choice. Like me. Considering who my Partner is, I couldn't really be surprised. Still, I had no idea then what I had gotten myself into. Do I wish it didn't happen? Definitely not. But it isn't easy to try and leap into something when you don't really know what it is._

 _Thinking back on it, I'm kind of surprised and proud of myself. I was never the kind of person to leap forward and try anything new. I'd rather sit back and watch other people have all the adventures and enjoy hearing about it on tv. Maybe that's why the Digignome chose me, other than the fact I was a random kid wandering the streets after curfew. Maybe the creature chose me because it could see that I was one to hide and decided to change that._

 _Even if it didn't know that though, Impmon certainly had that kind of effect on me eventually. You know, its really hard to try and ignore someone like him. Even as an adult Digimon he never really lost that mischievous streak of his. He liked having fun as much as any other guy, it just took a while to get him comfortable enough to get him to actually show that kind of behavior. Just goes to show you that if you're patient enough, anyone can come around._

 _Wishes are strange. They're the desires that beat in hearts, the kind that the Digignomes can make into reality. There are some people though who can make their own wishes a reality without their help. And you'd be surprised sometimes to find you're one of them._

* * *

As the fog finally cleared, Ailah got a good look at their attackers. One was a BlackTyrannomon, a large Dinosaur type creature that towered over the houses around them. He was all black with a white underbelly, huge teeth and claws, and blood thirsty blue eyes. Red stripes covered his body, and green spikes ran down his spine. Two of his fangs were larger than the others, and the belts around his wrists uncovered only two huge claws. Every single part of this creature looked like a lethal mess, and she certainly didn't want to face him. Remembering she had her D-Ark, she held it up as a circle with a hologram of the monster appeared.

"Name: DarkTyrannomon. Type: Dinosaur. Attribute: Virus. Level: Champion. DarkTyrannomon is a Dinosaur Digimon. Although it was originally a Tyrannomon-Species Digimon, it was infected by a vicious computer virus, causing a bug in its flesh's configuration data and transforming it into a frenzied Digimon. Its body turned black, its arms grew stronger than Tyrannomon's, and its offensive power grew. It identifies anything reflected in its eyes as an enemy and starts attacking, becoming completely frenzied. Attacks: Fire Blast and Iron Tail."

The smaller creature wasn't any more comforting to look at. He appeared to be almost like a childish drawing of a ghost, all white and looking like a tattered bed sheet. It was anything but funny and looked absolutely terrifying if she had to be honest. The rips and tears along his body only made him seem more vicious, and the little arms that hung out in front of it seemed ready and waiting to grab her. His black eyes glinted in the fog, only reflecting things around it as if it had no soul and yet still managed to have a cruel look to them. The four fangs along its top and bottom jaw seemed to keep his jaw open as he grinned at them. She looked down again at her D-Ark.

"Name: Bakemon. Type: Ghost. Attribute: Virus. Level: Champion. Bakemon is a ghost Digimon whose name and design are derived from the mythological Obake. It is a wicked Digimon born from the Dark Area. As a Ghost Digimon, its level is low, but because its body is composed of a fiendish virus program, its said that computers it possess are pulverized in a flash. Everything underneath its cloth-like is wrapped in mystery, and this Digimon is so mysterious that it is rumored that a portion of the shadow of its true form is a black hole. Because its fighting strength isn't great, it doesn't attack directly, but is instead an expert in indirect attacks employing curses or magical power. Attacks: None."

Ailah found herself unsure how this kind of battle would take place. It seemed that Bakemon didn't seem like that threatening of an opponent, however it also seemed to have control over the huge DarkTyrannomon that was eying the two of them like they were dinner. She knew they couldn't underestimate either of them, and quickly started looking through her cards. What was she supposed to do? She knew that both of these Digimon were stronger than Impmon, both being Champion levels rather than his Rookie level. She decided on a card in experiment, slashing it through her D-Ark as she did so.

"Digimodify," she called. "Power Up Activate!"

"Summon," Impmon called, throwing icicles at both Digimon.

Bakemon just laughed and dodged the attack, and BlackTyrannomon made a wining noise as they hit his nose and bounced off, taking a moment to rub the place where they hit. They managed to make no damage to either of them though, and Ailah began to get a really bad feeling about this. She had no idea how to battle with a real Digimon, and now she and Impmon were probably going to end up dead because she couldn't figure out something to do. She fumbled through her cards as Impmon continued to growl at the two.

"Don't ya got anything that'll help?" Impmon growled.

"I-I don't know," she said. "Wait, let's try..." she pulled out two cards this time, slashing them through quickly. "Digimodify: Hyper Wing Activate!" Four glowing white wings appeared from Impmon's back, and he took to the air like an old pro. She wasn't done yet, and slashed the second. "Digimodify: Speed Activate!"

Now Impmon was not only flying, but also faster and still slightly powered up from that Power Up card she had used before. Now Bakemon's grin had become a snarl as he quickly moved out of the way to avoid the blow. Impmon wasn't aiming for him though, and now focused his attacks on BlackTyrannomon who seemed too stupid to try and doge him. BlackTyrannomon yowled in pain as Impmon started throwing fireballs at his nose.

"Take this," Impmon growled. "Bada-Boom! Bada-Boom!"

After continually taking attacks, the large Dinosaur seemed to take a step back and flinch away slightly from the battle. However he still wasn't exactly hurt, and just seemed to turn to Bakemon and whine at him, as if begging him to do something. Bakemon had begun to growl as Impmon's wings disappeared and he landed again, still standing protectively in front of Ailah as he continued to watch the two for their next move. They didn't seem nearly so amused now.

"It seems we underestimated the girl," he growled. "Kill them both!"

BlackTyrannomon turned and roared, making Impmon bristle and Ailah gulp. This wasn't going to end well, in any sense of the word. And the worst part was, no one who wasn't already standing inside the fog would be able to hear the ground rumbling roar. The Digital Field would block all outside communication, which made things problematic considering the only thing standing between her and the enraged champions was an injured rookie. To her surprise though, BlackTyrannomon paused as the ground began to rumble and his eyes narrowed to slits.

"Ailah watch out," she heard a familiar voice call. "Go get him, GeoGreymon!"

Geogreymon was a big Dinosaur type creature, though only about half the size of BlackTyrannomon. He had an orange body and matching eyes, and his tail was long. His whole body was muscular and was a living weapon, and his front arms were longer than most dinosaur monsters with three claws. His back feet had three claws as well, and his tail was long. Blue stripes ran down his whole body, and two spikes came off of his shoulders. Those had a blue tip on them, like the blue stripes that ran down his body. He also had a brown helmet that had three horns, one at the nose and two at the back of his head, and that had red stripes on it. She glanced at her D-Ark.

"Name: GeoGreymon," she read aloud. "Type: Dinosaur. Attribute: Vaccine. Level: Champion. GeoGreymon is a Dinosaur Digimon. It is a unique Digimon that is conjectured to be a subspecies of Greymon. Its body and the carapace on its head have also developed like a full-length lethal weapon, and its appearance has become more aggressive. Attacks: Mega Flame and Mega Burst."

Another roar punctured the air as a GeoGreymon went thundering past. He was smaller than BlackTyrannomon, but that didn't seem to stop him as he slammed his helmet covered head into the creature's gut and send it flying back with a roar. GeoGreymon then stood protectively in front of Ailah and the injured rookie, and his partner Chris as he ran up, sliding the sunglasses over his face. Chris looked almost grim as he looked at their opponent, looking through his own cards that were now in his hands.

"I don't know how you've survived this long," Chris said. "But I think its safe to say you're a natural at this. Impmon!" The Rookie flinched at the noise but looked up.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Can you make it to your Champion Level?" he asked. Impmon paused a moment, his body going rigid and his eyes going wide, which surprised Ailah. He glanced at her again though, and suddenly relaxed, looking determined, and nodded. "Good. Ailah, use this."

He handed her a blue card, one with a yellow D on it and a darker blue dinosaur on it. She knew what it was, though she had never owned one. It was a card that would allow Impmon to Digivolve to his champion level, which would certainly help them out in their current battle. However she had definitely seen his reaction to the suggestion. Did he not want to go into his Champion level? Why? She didn't want to scare him off. He already seemed so broken. GeoGreymon glanced over his shoulder at his partner, growling worriedly.

"Chris," he said, his voice much deeper now. "There's no telling if she can keep him under control if she does make him Digivolve."

"Have some faith," Chris called back.

"But..." Ailah began.

"Just do it," Impmon growled.

Ailah paused a moment, watching her Partner who was now standing in front of her. He seemed so determined. She wasn't entirely sure what was going on, but she hesitated again. Why was he so scared? Did it have to do with that Crest he was hiding? Was it because he was a Virus type, and an "evil" creature? Was he scared of scaring her. She gripped the card tighter. She didn't have long to decide however. BlackTyrannomon opened his mouth and launched a fireball over GeoGreymon's shoulder, forcing Chris to roll away. Ailah froze a moment before sheer instinct took over.

"Digimodify: Digivolution Activate!"

She closed her eyes as she felt the heat getting closer, hoping she wouldn't have to see herself and her Partner get cooked alive by the attack. She heard GeoGreymon roar and slam into BlackTyrannomon in anger again, and Chris called out a warning, but she had no idea if her Partner had even managed to Digivolve at all. To her surprise though, she felt someone scoop her up and carry her into the air. The sensation of flying made her stomach lurch with her eyes closed, but soon enough they stopped, and she chanced to open her eyes.

GeoGreymon and Chris were now below, watching the smoking spot she'd been a few moments before, obviously not knowing if she was all right. BlackTyrannomon was currently struggling to stand after being thrown by GeoGreymon, and he looked angry. She was balancing carefully on the roof of a house above the battle. A dark but smooth voice sighed behind her and she looked up in surprise, recognizing this creature from the Anime: Devimon.

Devimon was tall and looked to be covered in black cloth. His arms were strangely long, hanging down nearly level with his feet. He had leather on his left arm, which sported a red middle finger, and he wore boots. Skulls were on his knees, on his forehead and on his right shoulder. A red mark was on both boots, the same that matched the evil mark on his chest, a bat like mark with two stripes above on his chest. The only part of his skin that was visible was his face, which was white, and his eyes glowed red. His wings were long and looked tattered, which begged the question of how he flew at all. Two large horns curved off the top of his head. He gently lowered Ailah to the ground, flaring his wings a little.

"Did I scare you?" he asked, seeming concerned. He had lost his Brooklyn accent, now speaking in a much more proper and smoother voice. She blinked, then smiled.

"No," she replied truthfully. "You just saved my life. Thank you, Devimon." The Digimon seemed to pause a moment, then smiled, revealing his fangs. He ruffled her hair gently with one of his large hands, chuckling quietly.

"You are such a sweet child.," he admitted.

"Up there," Bakemon hissed, pointing them out. BlackTyrannomon growled nervously upon seeing the second (and probably more vicious) Champion. Chris pulled out his D-Ark and looked at the screen.

"Name: Devimon," he said aloud, just barely loud enough for Ailah to hear. "Type: Evil. Attribute: Virus. Level: Champion. Devimon is an Evil Digimon. Its body is clad in jet-black cloth. Although it was originally a shining Angemon-Species Digimon, it was lured to the Dark Side by DemiDevimon and fell to the Dark Area, becoming a fallen angel. As proof of that, the Mark of Evil surfaced dramatically on is chest. It has a cunning and fiendish personality, but it also possesses an outstanding intellect. It is said that those who have stared into its two eyes, which shine a deep crimson, are mind-controlled and completely dominated by Devimon's mind. Although it has the same outward appearance and Special Move as the Devimon that inhabit File Island, it seems its lethal ptiential and power are remarkably increased. Attacks: Evil Wing and Death hand."

"Not exactly a very comforting Partner," GeoGreymon growled. He did seem relieved that he wasn't attacking everyone randomly.

"Look," Devimon said quietly so that only Ailah could hear as those below waited to see what he would do. "I do not exactly like this whole idea of having a Tamer. I do not just want to be someone's slave...and there's things I have to do."

"Don't worry," Ailah said, smiling at him. "Partners aren't meant to be master and slave. They're meant to be equals. Just look at GeoGreymon and Chris. They're best friends. I know you don't know me well, but I don't want you to be scared of me, okay? I want to be your friend. We're partners now, so we'll work through both of our problems together." Devimon blinked in surprise.

"Me?" he asked. "Scared of you?"

"Well aren't you?" she asked.

Devimon had to pause, looking down at her rather innocent face. He realized that he was right. He'd heard stories of kind Tamers and cruel ones, those who had made their "Partners" do everything like mindless slaves, and those who befriended them. He didn't know this girl, and didn't know how she would try and treat him. And he was scared because he was afraid of what she would think of him if she found out the truth. The Crest was now tucked into the black cloth, completely hidden from sight, and he remembered that she'd given it back to him.

There was something about this girl that told him that she was the kind of person who he could trust with anything, no matter what. He hardly knew her, but he just got that feeling. She seemed to be one to understand people, especially those who were lonely. Was he lonely? He supposed he was. But if this wasn't proof that they were partners now, he wasn't sure what was. He had moved, almost on instinct, so that he could protect her. He was already quick, and the more levels he got the quicker he would become. He was weak enough he was surprised that he had even had the ability to Digivolve at all. Humans seemed to make their Partners stronger.

He had no idea if any of his other friends had even survived the attack that had almost killed him, so if he was going to keep protecting this crest, he needed to be strong. For right now, it was the best defense. No one would expect he would let himself have a Partner, and if these two were destroyed they wouldn't get to tell anyone else. And if he was stronger he could protect his Crest easier. Though he could admit, at least to himself, that it wouldn't be bad to keep the girl around. She really needed a good friend.

"Maybe I am," he said with a chuckle. "Well, Partners?"

"Partners," she agreed with a smile. Then she turned her eyes towards the four down below her and gripped her cards and D-Ark. She raised her voice so they could hear. "So let's get started! Go get them!"

She didn't look behind her, but heard the sound of Devimon's wings snapping open as he took to the air above her. She saw him shoot past her towards the battle, ignoring BlackTyrannomon this time and going right for Bakemon. All four below were surprised to see him attacking at all, and Bakemon and BlackYrannomon didn't seem nearly so confident now. They looked down right terrified as Devimon's elongated arms extended, and waves went out from his hands towards the Ghost Type Digimon. Bakemon screamed as they hit him.

"Death Hand," he called in an almost bored tone. Bakemon went flying backwards, and BlackTyrannomon seemed to pause. Devimon turned to look at GeoGreymon. "Are you going to stand there?"

GeoGreymon instantly seemed to understand what he was saying, and his eyes hardened as he turned back to the now confused dinosaur digimon. He opened his mouth, and a giant ball of fire formed in his mouth. As he shot it out and called out the attack, it hit the Digimon with a devastating effect, making it roar and fly backwards into the ground with a boom. Ailah was suddenly glad people were advised to stay out of the way of a battle between Digimon and no one seemed to be home in the house she was balancing on the roof of now. People could get seriously hurt in a battle like this.

"Mega Flame," he cried, snarling at the now prone BlackTyrannomon. Both Digimon struggled to get upright again, and Bakemon was staring at Devimon with fear clearly on his face.

"Get them," he cried, trying to edge away from the battle.

"Oh no you don't," Devimon growled as he saw him. Ailah pulled out a card and slashed it through her D-Ark. She couldn't use many more without wearing her Partner out, but he seemed to be holding up all right for right now.

"Digimodify," she cried. "Hyper Speed Activate!"

Devimon was gone in a flash and appeared behind Bakemon before he could realize what was going on. The Virus type's wings opened wide as the Ghost Type Digimon turned with wide eyes to look at him. A wave of evil black bats with red eyes struck him, making him fly away and turn into data even as Devimon was calling out the attack. He seemed to pause a moment, before simply watching the data particles float away instead of absorbing them. This seemed to impress both Chris and GeoGreymon, and Ailah smiled and her partner. He wasn't so "evil" after all.

"Evil Wing," he called, destroying the pesky Bakemon and turning to the stunned BlackTyrannomon. "One left."

The large Dinosaur type Digimon seemed to just stand there for several seconds, as if trying to process the fact that his strange friend was gone. The confusion soon left his gaze though as suddenly he roared and turned, slamming into GeoGreymon and throwing him to the side. All intelligence was gone from his gaze as he realized that the only creature who seemed to be able to hold him back was now gone. He turned and swung his tail at the house that Ailah was perched precariously on top of, cutting a large chunk out of the wall and making it shake. It reached forward to grab the girl and crush her, but GeoGreymon slammed his own tail into him.

Ailah slipped off of the edge, falling towards the ground. She managed to yelp in surprise before a dark shape caught her before she had neared the ground. Ailah paused again, realizing that Devimon had saved her again, holding her so that she was balanced against the left side of his chest, cradled in the crook of a single elbow and enormous hand (which was large enough to hold most of her torso in it if he chose to. She blinked in surprise and laid her hand against his chest to make herself feel like she was more balanced.

"T-Thanks Devimon," she said quietly. The Virus type didn't respond, instead turning and snarling quietly at the BlackTyrannomon.

He knew that the Digignome had made their bond stronger than most Digimon and Tamers. They hardly knew each other, yet wanted badly to find ways to protect each other. He had seen how she had tried to keep him hidden all day, and he was absolutely furious that the other virus type had tried to attack her. Too bad for him that he was much older than he looked, and that in this form he was much more cunning than he would be in any of his other forms. As soon as he had seen the creature's eyes change he had leaped forward to protect Ailah.

It was yet another wake up call for him. He wanted to keep her safe, but now that he couldn't even bring himself to go that far away from her, he had to stay near her. Even he knew how fragile human beings could be, and even though he was a Virus Type he had been raised to be kind and caring. He could thank his "mother" for that, who especially took in young Virus Types to help them. Even past the fear of the creature he had become, she had never hated him. He had a duty to protect his Crest, and now he had to protect this girl. And he understood now why Digimon with human Partners could get so protective of them. He had never been this _angry_!

"Ailah," Chris called, startled, but she waved at him.

"We're okay," she told him.

Both Ailah and Devimon understood why he stared at the two of them like that. A creature like Devimon...well most were almost always like the creatures that could be seen through the various seasons of the Anime itself. This one however seemed completely different, somehow much gentler and much more merciful. Ailah couldn't have told anyone why, but she was completely unafraid, even sitting there in his claws. If he had wanted to hurt her he could have done so already, and he had so far, always been there to help her. Chris nodded to her.

"GeoGreymon," he called. "We gotta defeat this guy!"

"Mega Flame," GeoGreymon called in reply.

Again, the massive flames sprang from his mouth and slammed into the BlackTyrannomon, however this time as the creature yowled, he struggled to his feet again. All light was gone in his eyes now as he roared and spat his own flames back at the Dinosaur Digimon that was facing him.

"Fire Blast," he snarled.

He was nothing but a frenzied monster that wanted to attack. There seemed to be no reason or tactic to it, only that he had to destroy these creatures in front of it. Ailah frowned as she began digging through her cards again, careful not to drop any of them.

"What a hot head," she said, trying to joke to ease the tension that she was feeling. She failed, though she thought she might have seen Devimon smirk for a moment. "Let's cool him down." She quickly selected a card and slashed it through her D-Ark. "Digimodify! IceDevimon's Tundra Freeze Activate!"

"Tundra Freeze," Devimon immediately shouted, firing a freezing beam from his eyes right at the Virus Type they were battling.

BlackTyrannomon roared as the ice began spreading over his body from where Devimon was aiming at him in the chest. Soon the creature was completely frozen solid, nothing more than a frozen statue stuck inside of crystallized ice. Chris didn't miss a beat and pulled out his own card, smirking a little as he slashed it and nodded to his partner.

"Lets see how he likes a taste of his own medicine," Chris called. "Digimodify! BlackTyrannomon's Iron Tail Activate!"

"Iron Tail," GeoGreymon instantly roared, slamming his tail into the sculpture.

The ice that had entombed the creature seemed to explode upon impact, shattering the unfortunate Dinosaur monster into data as he was finally defeated. Chris and Ailah both let out sighs as the destructive creature was finally destroyed, leaving a swath of destruction from the wrecked house to the scorch marks that were on the ground and walls at various points. Slowly, Devimon brought Ailah back down to the ground, carefully making sure her ride was smooth as the fog of the Digital Field began to dissipate. Ailah looked down at the cards, pulling out the blue one.

"Here," she said, offering to give it back as Devimon carefully set her down. Chris just smiled and shook his head as his own Partner joined them.

"Keep it," he said. "You'll need it more than me, and I always carry a few spares. You know, in case I find a couple of idiots taking on two Digimon at once."

"That is probably a good policy to adopt," Devimon said, smirking a little and not at all offended. Chris couldn't help but be relieved that he seemed to have patience and a sense of humor. "Especially considering your line of work."

The fog began clearing, revealing that a line of police and Digimon Rangers had already arrived and surrounded the area. The paramedics were here as well, seemingly prepared to help anyone who was inside if there were any injuries. Luckily, Devimon was cunning and quick, so Ailah didn't even have a scratch on her. The same could not be said for her poor bad, which had been trampled and set on fire. She frowned sadly as she saw it, fully expecting her notebook to be completely destroyed after that. To her surprise though, it appeared over her shoulder.

She didn't know where Devimon had kept the notebook during the fight, but other than being ruffled a bit there wasn't anything wrong with it. It was completely intact and not destroyed. Tears sprang to her eyes as she saw it, quickly hugging it to her chest. She didn't know how he had found out she liked to write, but she couldn't help but be grateful to the Virus Type Digimon. She turned around and hugged him, throwing her arms around him and getting a dark but amused chuckle in return. She could hear the police, paramedics, Rangers and various people watching muttering in surprise. Ailah couldn't really blame them. She would have been surprised to see anyone hugging a creature like Devimon and surviving (let alone getting a smile and gentle pat on her head in response). She couldn't help it though. She was so happy.

"Thank you," she whispered into his chest. "I don't know when you started following me or how you found out but..."

"I can be rather...curious as Impmon," Devimon explained quietly back. "Let's just say I took a peek at some of your notebooks laying around. You truly are gifted. I began following you after that, and grabbed the notebook just after I Digivolved."

"Thanks, Devimon," she said, stepping back and smiling again at him.

She paused though, noticing that something else had drawn his attention upwards. She turned her eyes to follow his gaze, seeing a giggling Digignome waving at them as he continued to circle above where the battle had just been. Everyone else looked up as well, surprised at seeing the creature before it swooped down, patting GeoGreymon's nose, and then swooped down, sitting on Devimon's shoulder and giggling a minute before flying off again to disappear and help fulfill more wishes of those that were waiting for something like him to come along. Finally, Chris managed to break the silence as he saluted a woman.

The woman was tall and thin, well dressed in one of the Ranger Uniforms and having her black hair tied up in a tidy bun. Her eyes were green, piercing and seeming to stare right at the Virus type and his Partner over her glasses. She was obviously sizing them up, and Ailah recognized the woman as the head of the Digimon Rangers in the city. Next to her was her Partner, a Gaomon, which was a blue dog like creature with red boxing gloves, a red headband, a white underbelly with a curly tail, yellow eyes, and ears that flopped a little towards the top.

"Ma'am," Chris greeted as GeoGreymon joined him and bowed his head a little to her. "The two threats have been neutralized."

"Their names?" she asked, turning her attention to Chris instead. Ailah couldn't help but breathe a slight sigh of relief. She felt like she was under inspection, and protectively stepped in front of Devimon (to the Virus Type's surprise).

"Bakemon and BlackTyrannomon," Chris answered. "The Bakemon was using the BlackTyrannomon to attack. Once he was destroyed the BlackTyrannomon went on a rampage." He then almost immediately added. "If it hadn't been for Devimon's cunning plan of attack things would have been much worse off."

"I see," the woman said, looking up towards Devimon and Ailah again.

She made her way over the two of them, Chris and GeoGreymon watching her quietly as Ailah fidgeted under her gaze. The Gaomon followed after her, seeming as interested as his tamer as he made his way over to them. The woman didn't seem intimidated by Devimon at all, looking at both him and his young Tamer. She glanced towards her, noticing she had no deck box, obviously marking her as a new Tamer. The woman's eyebrow raised at this, no doubt surprised by the fact that such a young Tamer was able to handle a Partner at the Champion level, let alone a creature like Devimon. She watched the two for a long moment.

"You helped these two defeat the Bioemerged Digimon?" She asked simply.

"Yes," Ailah said quietly. The woman nodded and turned her attention to Devimon.

"And you," she said. "What are you doing here?" There was nothing accusing in her tone, simply asking the question. He smirked a little to her.

"The choice was not mine," he replied. "The Digignomes seemed to think it would be a good idea."

"Ma'am," GeoGreymon said, growling lowly, surprising Ailah with his sudden defense of Devimon. "Chris and I were there when the Digignome gave the girl the D-Ark."

"Hm," the woman said thoughtfully. "I see. And what form do you usually take?"

"Impmon," Devimon replied simply.

There was silence as the woman continued to watch the two of them. Ailah found herself gripping her notebook tightly and staring at her feet. She knew the woman, the strict head of the Ranger Department in the city, Sarah Kingsley. If anyone was going to take Devimon away from her, it would be this woman. The thought honestly terrified Ailah, though she couldn't have told anyone why that was. She didn't want her to send him back to the Digital World. Sarah finally seemed to come to a decision though, and turned away, motioning for Ailah to follow her.

"Come on," she said. "We've got orders to get anyone involved in the incident to the Rangers Head Quarters. I don't think your Partner is a threat, considering he willingly helped a Digimon Ranger get rid of some problem Digimon. He certainly doesn't seem like any other Devimon we've ever encountered. Besides, we've got to talk to the headmaster of Digital Academy. All children with Digimon Partners are supposed to attend after all."

Ailah's eyes went wide in surprise as she heard the woman, still not entirely believing that this was really happening to her. After a few moments she ran a little to catch up with the woman, noticing Chris giving her a smile and a thumbs up in reply. Before Ailah entered the car with Sarah, she noticed that Devimon sank into her shadow to hide himself from sight, most likely to keep people from panicking at the sight of him. She wasn't too surprised by this, considering the Devimon from the Original Anime had an ability not unlike it. Ailah let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding as the car door was closed and they were off to the Rangers Headquarters, Sarah sitting on the other side of the back seat with Gaomon between them. Maybe it was a good thing Devimon seemed content to hide in her shadow, especially since he wouldn't fit in a normal car in his Champion Form.

Ailah let the silence stretch between them as she stared out the car window at the gathering crowds and damage that had been done in the battle. She almost thought she caught sight of Victoria and Gabumon in the crowd, but lost sight of them. Then another thought hit her that made her stomach twist in new ways.

 _What_ was she going to tell her parents?

* * *

 **And there is the end of chapter three. This one wasn't as long as I thought it might end up being, but most of it actually consisted of the first fight of the series. The chapters are going to get progressively longer as the series progresses, and many will have several long fight scenes in them like this one. I hope you guys can look forward to that.**

 **Anyway, if you enjoyed this chapter, feel free, as always to leave a review for me to tell me how you thought I did, or even if you just like it.**


	4. Inescapable! Ties of Fate!

**Here we go with chapter four. I guarantee at least most people reading this story have probably started to guess what's going on, considering I wasn't really keeping it a secret and have been hinting at what's really going on quite a lot. Then there's also the prophecy itself in the first chapter. That will come into play, but later on when things actually start heating up. Anyway, I hope you guys continue to enjoy this story.**

 **By the way, the City in this story is Grange, which will be explained in the chapter. Its sort of a city where people have dual citizenship in America and Japan, though its located in Japan. Its outside of Tokyo and grew up because of the Digimon population. Other cities like it in the world, but this one houses the original Digital Academy and a larger Head Quarters for the Digimon Rangers.**

 **Its not uncommon to find names like those found in America and Japan here in this strange (made up for the AU) City. The treaty that made this city possible was made in 2003, and Ailah is 15 and was born here. That means the date for the story is about 2018 at least. So as of right now, it was written in a future time (at least two years in the future, if Ailah was born in exactly the same year that the treaty was signed and the city was formed).**

 **As always, its time for someone's immortal words. In the immortal words of a friend of mine: "Don't you think you kind of over killed that BlackTyrannomon?"**

 **No. No I don't. Its freaking Devimon. You expected he would go easy on anyone? Especially someone who attacked his Partner?**

* * *

Chapter Four: Inescapable! Ties of Fate!

* * *

 _Can the way the world works be hard to accept? Of course it can. But Sometimes there's nothing you can do but shrug it off and continue living life. There are times when you can only live a day at a time, and others where you can live planning everything out that comes ahead of you, and there's no telling which direction your life can swing in at any given moment. All the things you can be prepared for can still catch you by surprise, and there are always the variables that make planning for anything truly impossible. That doesn't mean we quit trying though. There's always a chance that things can get better, though they can also get worse._

 _Thinking about how bad things can get or already are doesn't help anything though. If there's such a thing as destiny or fate, then we all know there are some things that can never be changed. However both humans and Digimon have always had a strange ability, maybe the ability of any creature that was already living anyway and lived beyond simple instincts: the ability to make choices. Sometimes those choices are tiny, simple things that never seem to truly effect anything. Those choices are what make all the difference though, changing the course of our future so that even powerless humans can make a difference._

 _They say you cannot escape destiny or fate. They say that there are things that you can't change. But there are also the things that you can change, the things that make all the difference. And that's the kind of things that allow everyone a second chance. Though, we may not like the way those second chances appear. Like Impmon didn't like the way his appeared. Or maybe it wasn't a second chance at all. Maybe all of this was fate. If it was, it certainly liked to throw us into situations we weren't comfortable with. Then again, that's life, isn't it?_

* * *

"How can you be absolutely sure this thing is tame?" the city's mayor, a short and squat man with thinning gray hair and worried brown eyes cried. Ailah didn't flinch this time, though she frowned. She'd heard the same kind of questions for about two hours now. Sarah just pushed her glasses farther up on her face and frowned.

"Mr. Counts," she replied in a calm tone. "That thing, as you refer to it, is a Digimon. Each is an individual, despite their basic natures, and can make decisions for themselves. The Devimon that is present with us has shown no signs of being anything but loyal to his tamer, who is a kind and compassionate, if not a little antisocial, young woman. If there was a chance that this creature could prove to be a threat, the Rangers would have already neutralized him."

"H-He's here?" Mayor Counts gasped, his eyes flicking around the small office in terror and towards Ailah, who was sitting next to Mrs. Kingsley across the desk from him. She had been moved here to keep the ravenous press off her, and now only the Mayor was present inside the room. Seeing the man's terrified face, a dark sigh sounded.

"I am present," Devimon responded, almost making Ailah jump. It was going to take some getting used to the fact that her Partner could hide in her shadow in this form. She was a little surprised that he still had energy after that battle and had remained in this form for so long.

"Calm down, Mr. Counts," Sarah sighed, motioning for Gaomon to restrain the terrified man. Once the Mayor was back in his seat (though he was whimpering and still being held by the dog like Digimon) she continued. "As I said, he is no danger to us. The Rangers have already questioned both the girl and her Partner," Ailah did shudder a little at this. Not all of those who had wanted to ask questions had been very kind to them. "and found that this Devimon is a patient Digimon, not only with a sense of humor, but with a caring personality, despite his outward appearance. Honestly, I'd think you'd rather be excited to thank these two for saving the lives of countless people, as well as keeping the damage to the surrounding area to a minimum. Devimon may not be the stereotypical villain everyone expects him to be, but he is cunning."

"Y-Yes well," the man mumbled, looking flustered now. Gaomon's smirk quickly told Ailah that his Partner had finally struck a nerve. Even Ailah knew that the man who was the Mayor of the rather bustling city of Grange always liked to be in the thick of the action, and this kind of story was one that would land him in world wide news for years to come.

"I'm honestly surprised sir," Gaomon said, making sure to add this in to convince the man otherwise. Ailah wasn't sure she'd heard him say anything before. "I thought you'd be smart enough to see past the prejudice of such creatures. What are you basing your assumptions off of? That silly children's show? Devimon aren't exactly common Digimon."

"O-Of course not," the man said, looking embarrassed. Then he smiled and let out the booming laugh he was most known for. "Anyone with sense could see this Devimon means no harm. Why, I would even let my own daughter play with him around! Its easy to see why people would be scared of him. Now, Mrs. Kingsley, I must be off. The press must be going crazy out there, waiting for the big scoop. I'll calm them down. The people deserve to know after all!"

"Thank you, Mr. Counts," Sarah said with a slight smirk as Gaomon released the man, watching him go towards the door with a bounce in his step. "That will certainly help."

The man didn't respond as he went bouncing out of the room, quickly swarmed by the press who were no doubt asking questions about what was going on inside and if he had met the creature. Ailah couldn't help but let out a sigh. She really wasn't going to enjoy this, especially if people kept asking her questions like this. It had already taken a lot of convincing to even get most of the Rangers to decide that they could allow Devimon to stick around, let alone trust him. She could understand why they were so uneasy with the situation, but she didn't want to lose her Partner. Luckily, most of them had been convinced when it was explained a Digignome was involved. The remaining few however might never be convinced of Devimon's innocence.

Ailah didn't like to think she would be pretty much in the spotlight for a while now. While it wasn't uncommon for the Partners of rarer Digimon to be big news all over the world, this was going to be the worst. She didn't even want to think about how many people would want pictures or want to talk to her. She didn't have the personality to just accept that kind of treatment. She definitely didn't wish for another Partner. Devimon had already proved that he could protect her and had saved her life at least twice already. She didn't want him to go anywhere. She just wished what was going to come wasn't going to come so quickly.

"A rather silly creature," Devimon said, sounding amused. "isn't he?"

"True," Sarah said, though she also gave a small smirk. "Hibiki Counts has always had a weakness for the spotlight. However in times of crisis he can often lead the city to form an organized plan of action. Just like the Digital Portal incident two months ago where a hacker had managed to break through to the Digital World and open unregistered portals. He helped us get it back under control. Too bad his term's almost up. There's no telling who will be elected next."

"I may be wrong," Devimon said, a hint of interest coloring his voice. "but 'Hibiki' is a Japanese name, while the surname 'Counts' is an English name."

"You're not wrong," Gaomon replied, seeming to still find it a little unnerving to be talking to a disembodied voice and unsure where to look to not be rude. He turned to staring at Ailah's shadow as his best bet. "Grange is a large city located in Japan, but the citizens born here have dual Citizenship in Japan and the United States of America. It was created under the Digital Being Treaty of 2003 when Digimon first began appearing in the Real World. Other cities exist like it across the world, hoping to strengthen the bonds between various countries in case catastrophe from the Digital World struck. There was fear of the Digital Beings becoming real creatures and the powers they possessed, like those in the television show that aired in 1999 in Japan. As such, this city was created as a first response, closest to the epicenter of the first Bioemergences in Tokyo, which we are located near. Since The United States of America was, and still is, a world superpower, it made sense to choose that country as joint owner of the territory."

"I see," Devimon said, obviously sounding surprised. Ailah couldn't blame him. It seemed confusing to her, and she'd been born here and taken the history class in school. Sarah leaned back in her chair, pushing her glasses farther up her nose and continued to explain.

"Because of that," she said. "its not uncommon to have Japanese and American sounding names, and since America is full of people from all over the world, there are some strange combinations. Hibiki Counts wasn't born here, but he was originally from America where its not as common but still possible. This city is home to one of the biggest Digimon Ranger Head Quarters, while the main Head Quarters is based in Tokyo. Its also home to the original Digital Academy campus, which was created in the hopes of educating young Tamers and their Partners to make them productive and safe members of society. American and Japanese culture have begun to blend here."

"And Digital Academy is where you hope to send us," Devimon guessed.

"It was our hope, yes," Sarah replied with a nod. "As long as the Headmaster of Digital Academy agrees of course."

Devimon seemed to fall thoughtfully silent, which Ailah had to admit that he did a lot. She couldn't help but wonder at the huge differences between how he had been as Impmon and how he was as Devimon. Impmon was loud and as far as she knew, liked to get his point across as soon as possible. He was rather childish and if his bio was anything to go off of, liked to pull pranks. There had been times when he had seemed much older though, which was the dominant personality now. She'd heard of other cases of Digimon's personalities changing drastically between all of their forms, but this is the first she'd ever seen in one she'd met.

She knew he was the same Digimon, and that he was always going to be the same creature. She wasn't sure if this was the kind of behavior she needed to continue to expect from him, but she wouldn't be surprised. Even Gabumon seemed to be more protective, more outgoing and more savage even at times when he took his Champion form, Garurumon. It was basically like growing up for humans, and each form could be completely different. For all she knew, he could one day become a creature not unlike Impmon in personality, though maybe a little more matured. She obviously wasn't the only one thinking that though, because Gaomon continued to stare at her shadow.

"Its strange," he admitted. "You seem like a much older creature than you appear to be, even in this form, and strangely gentle as well. I never would have believed that a Digimon from the Dark Area would be so kind."

"I was not raised in the Dark Area," Devimon revealed, to the surprise of even his Tamer. After all, it was rare to find Digimon like him outside of it. "I was raised from an egg in the Forest Area."

"I suppose that explains why you're so different," Gaomon said, shaking his head. "Still, I do have to be a little surprised. The Dark Area had been peaceful for a while now. What made them change so suddenly?"

"What indeed?" the Virus Type sighed quietly.

Ailah could see Gaomon's ears twitch at his response, and Sarah glanced towards the girl's shadow, where her Partner remained hidden out of sight. Even Ailah could tell from the way that he knew more about this than he was letting on. Then again, so did most of the Digimon that were appearing from the Digital World here lately were acting that way. Humans had begun living in that world as much as Digimon were living here in the Real World, and tournaments and other such things often took place in the Digital World.

That's where her parents had been sent off to with her mother's partner, a gentle and protective Rookie Digimon called Labramon. Her father and mother were reporters that were working on a report on a project that had been ongoing in the Digital World to help ease the tensions that were rising there by sending human help to the grief stricken areas. It didn't seem to be doing much good, and more Digimon continued to flee to the Real World. Devimon might know more about what was going on, just like all the recently appearing Digimon, but he didn't seem to want to share anymore than any of them. The frown on Sarah's face seemed to say that she had expected as much.

"Um," Ailah said, feeling uneasy. "Mrs. Kingsley-"

"Please," the woman said with a kind smile, allowing Ailah to relax a little. "call me Sarah. What is it, Ailah?"

"I was just wondering if I could go?" she asked quietly, looking away. "I should probably get home. My parents might be getting back soon..." The woman's gaze seemed to soften as she looked at the girl.

"I'll escort you out," she replied to her. "Your parents and friends may already be arriving."

"Thank you," Ailah said with a smile.

"Have you lost enough energy to De-Digivolve yet?" the woman asked the hidden Virus type.

"I am practiced enough to De-Digivolve at any time," he explained. "I was simply refraining from doing so for the time being, considering the press outside."

"Very well," Sarah said, standing and walking to the door. She grabbed the doorknob and paused, looking out the windows of the office towards the reporters waiting outside. "I advise you to be prepared. They'll want pictures and statements. I can tell you're uncomfortable Ailah, so I'll only allow pictures. People will want proof of a 'Tamed' Devimon, but I'll have a blockade set up so they won't run you over."

Ailah just nodded as the door was opened wide enough to let Gaomon through. He ran over to a few Rangers who were nearby and began speaking, and soon a living blockade was set up so that the now disappointed new personnel wouldn't mod the already exhausted girl. Ailah now knew how the people her parents interviewed must feel, because she'd seen the way her mother had been fired up before going out for a report. Luckily with all the Digimon related news going around they were paid really well and that let them live in this busy city.

She noticed that all of the Ranger's Digimon had now evolved into the Champion Forms, possibly to calm some of the nervous reporters. They might have been nervous, but that wasn't going to stop them from trying to get the scoop on this story first. Ailah quickly spotted Chris and GeoGreymon outside (mostly because he was the biggest Champion) and couldn't help but smile a little. They really did seem to appear everywhere she was here lately. Or maybe it was just her strange luck that had landed her in this situation in the first place. Sarah opened the door as Gaomon came bounding back into the room.

"Ready?" she asked.

"No," Ailah replied, getting an amused chuckle from behind her, which she ignored.

"Come on," Sarah coaxed with a smile.

Ailah finally stood, grabbing her notebook, deck and D-Ark, holding them to her chest as if they was her lifeline, and made her way out towards the crowd of flashing cameras and screaming voices. They were only just restrained by the blockade of Rangers and their Partners, and not all of the reporters were humans. Various Digimon could be spotted inside the mess, some partnered and some not. News traveled fast between the two worlds, so she wasn't surprised if there was some Digimon who basically made up a news network in the Digital World there.

She couldn't even pick out one question being called out to her as she stared at her feet, stepping forward. Luckily for her, Devimon seemed to be able to sense some of her unease and perhaps decided to take pity on the girl. He seemed to float upwards, melting out of her shadow that he had taken to hiding in hours before. Silence lapsed for a few seconds as all attention was then turned to the strangely eerie and majestic being that appeared behind her. This allowed Ailah a brief relief from the attention as she drew closer to the crowd where Sarah would take her towards the front of the building. It didn't last long however.

"Why did you come to the Digital World, Devimon?"

"How does it feel to be Partnered with a Digimon thought to be Evil?"

"Is it true you and your Partner defeated six Digimon by yourselves?"

"What are you going to do now?"

Ailah didn't respond to any of the questions as she walked closer to where the Mayor was giving an interview for the local newscast. Some of them gave Ailah pitying glances, obviously knowing her through her parents that they often worked with. She didn't pay any of the questions much mind. She was used to the same kind of thing happening from the few times she'd had to come watch her mom or dad work. Rumors were bound to fly when a creature like Devimon showed up, and it didn't help his strength would be largely exaggerated from the show. He WAS only a Champion form after all. Not that this mattered much.

"-and I can assure you that this creature is perfectly safe," the Mayor said as they came closer. "There is absolutely nothing to fear from this Devimon, though of course the same couldn't be said for all of them. Ah! Here come our heroes now!"

The man practically grabbed Ailah and pulled her into a sideways hug as he smiled at the various flashing lights in his faces, all fighting to get a good picture of the tall Digimon that was standing behind the two. Ailah just continued to grip her notebook and stare down at the ground between her feet. Devimon stood quietly behind them, watching his partner with a concerned face. He could tell that she really didn't like to be the center of attention, and he was torn between getting her out of there or following Sarah's suggestion, which would be the more logical choice. Finally, Sarah pulled Ailah away and began to lead them away, and Devimon simply disappeared into the girl's shadow again, producing yet another round of pictures to be taken, and footage to be filmed. He would rather not show how agitated all of this was making him though. It would only serve to cause more of a panic after all.

He couldn't believe how stupid humans were. Couldn't they tell Ailah didn't want to be here? Then again, there had been Digimon there too who didn't seem to care either. He supposed though that by now he should have known that mass hysteria and a hunger for knowledge, no matter how skewed the facts were, could make them ignore everything else. People could be rather cruel, he decided. Still, it was far better to keep calm in this form and remain out of sight, something that he had never seemed to be able to achieve in any of his other forms.

Thankfully, the ravenous press was soon left behind, successfully held back by the Rangers and their Partners, if only just. The crowds around them thinned out until they became little more than Rangers and their Digimon, who seemed far too busy to do more than curiously glance at the girl they'd already heard so much about. As they began to make their way towards the front door however, they noticed that a large crowd had gathered in front of the door. What seemed like the one millionth exhausted sigh left Ailah's lips, until she heard a familiar voice.

"Ailah!"

"Victoria?" Ailah asked in surprise, her head snapping up at the sound.

She found the girl trying to fight through a crowd of onlookers, though she wasn't surprised to see her on Garurumon's back trying to get to her friend. Sarah motioned for the Tamers to let her through when she realized that Ailah obviously knew this girl. Garurumon instantly angled towards her, running up and shoving his nose into her chest, growling comfortingly to his friend. Garurumon was a huge lupine like creature with silver gray and white fur and dark blue stripes running over his body. His ears looked almost like the various spikes of almost hard fur that formed what almost seemed like a crown around the back of his head. Fangs poked out of his mouth in all directions, and his eyes were now big and blue, while his nose and claws were almost purple. Victoria leaped off of Garurumon's back, throwing her arms around Ailah's neck.

"Oh my gosh," she cried. "I'm so glad you're okay! I heard all about it and saw the street after the battle but I couldn't find you! I'm so sorry that you got caught up in that mess when you were supposed to be hanging out with me!"

"Is it true?" Garurumon asked in a much deeper voice. "about your...Partner?"

"It is," Sarah said, seeming to decide to step in. Garurumon were known to be rather vicious Digimon when they wanted to be. "However I can assure you that Devimon is no danger to anyone. It's not even the usual form he takes. If he appears, you cannot battle him on the premises."

Garurumon's eyes grew hard and steely, the same protective gaze that Ailah had seen on his face several times since he had been able to take that form about a year ago. He seemed to stare at the woman for a long moment, before turning his eyes back to Ailah. He hesitated though when he saw her pleading eyes. He'd always had a weakness for her, and though he obviously didn't know this creature or the things he was capable of, he wanted to protect the girl. That included not making her cry in his book though. He snarled, his nose crinkling up to reveal his fangs, and let out a low growl. He nodded his assent though.

Nearly immediately, both he and Victoria stiffened and looked behind Ailah with wide eyes as she knew the tall creature began to almost melt upwards out of the shadow he had been hiding in. As he appeared, he flared his wings a little, but made no threatening moves at all. He was watching Garurumon, sizing him up just as the lupine like Digimon no doubt was as well. No one seemed to move or breathe, Victoria's mouth forming a small "O" as she stood there. Slowly, Garurumon edged around Ailah and sniffed at the Virus Type, who didn't move. Then he let out another growl, backed up, and nodded to him.

"Thank you," he said to the creature. "For protecting her. She means a lot to me."

"Of course," Devimon said with a small smile.

Victoria smiled too, obviously trusting her Partner's judgment, and Ailah smiled and finally relaxed a little as well. She was glad the protective Garurumon had accepted her Partner. Sarah and Gaomon both were surprised though, obviously not expecting the being to be such a gentle giant. Garurumon had always been that way though, another peacemaker just like Victoria. He could tell that Devimon wasn't evil, even if that's what his nature said he was. Ailah jumped as her cell phone started ringing suddenly, quickly pulling it out. She groaned as she saw that the caller id was her mother's. She opened it quickly though, surprised that she hadn't called sooner.

"Mom?" she asked.

"Areyouokay?" the voice instantly questioned quickly. "Wejustgotintotownandweweresoworriedaboutyou-"

"Slower mom," Ailah sighed. The woman on the line took a deep breath.

"Sorry," she said. "Are you okay? Your dad and I just got back into town. We heard something about you fighting Digimon with your Partner?"

"Yeah," she sighed. "And yeah, he is a Devimon, at the moment. He had to Digivolve during the battle. Don't worry though. He's not...evil."

"I think I'll be the judge of that," her mother growled in a dangerous tone, making Ailah pinch the bridge of her nose. "Labramon, your father and I are outside now. Can you ask these people to let me in now?"

"You're outside right now?" Ailah asked, not ready for the questioning that was about to come. Sarah motioned Chris and Agumon (who had managed to De-Digivolve) over as she and Gaomon went towards the front of the building.

"Yes," her mother replied. "And you won't be getting out of this one, young lady. I want an explanation as soon as I make my way in there."

"Honey maybe we should give her a break," Ailah heard her father's attempt at calming his wife in the background of the call. "She has had a rather tiring day and-"

"No Savoy," her mother growled.

"But Xailynn-"

"I said no," the woman cut her husband off. "I'm going to get some answers. Do you understand me, Ailah. Wait. There."

"Yes mom," Ailah muttered.

"I've got to go," her mother growled, and Ailah could hear Sarah calling her somewhere in the background. "Don't move."

"Bye mom," Ailah muttered glumly as her mother hung up on her.

"What was that?" Chris asked, confused.

"My mom," Ailah replied with a deep sigh. "Sorry about this, Devimon. She can be rather..."

"Overbearing?" Garurumon added unhelpfully.

"She means well," Victoria said in her friend's mother's defense.

Ailah couldn't help but think to herself that it didn't matter if her mother meant well if she killed her Partner before she actually got to know him. Labramon wasn't going to help anything either. Her father on the other hand was much calmer and was often the voice of reason. That calmed Ailah down a little bit. He would at least make them hear out the story before they jumped to any conclusions. Soon though, Sarah escorted the three of them back.

In the front was her mother, her brown hair pulled up into a stylish but still professional bun with her bangs hanging into her face. Her eyes were brown as well, and freckles decorated her nose. Her mother wore tightly a tightly fitting dress suit and heels, but neither of those things kept her from striding across the room, glaring right at Devimon in a way that would have intimidated even GeoGreymon. She carried a brown purse, where her D-Ark and cards would be. The D-Ark, Ailah knew, would be a dark pink ring around the screen and matching strap, though it was a different shade than what Carly's had been earlier.

Trailing behind her was the girl's father, who had short and well combed brown hair. He was wearing a matching suit, though his jacket was unbuttoned and his tie was gone. His eyes were a striking sky blue, though they were glancing up towards the thoughtful Devimon rather pityingly and with an apology in his gaze. He obviously had thought they were off duty and didn't think they'd be rushing across town with the news of what their only child had just gotten herself involved in.

Towards the back was the Rookie dog like Digimon who looked almost as furious as his Partner. He was a white color with bright red eyes, though some of his fur was shaggy and hung down over his eyes slightly. He had a larger bottom fang that poked up on either side of his mouth, and a smaller one just in front of the bottom one. Under his eyes were two triangle shaped dark pink marks that matched the strap and ring on the D-Ark, and his paws had three big white claws on the front of them. The bottom of his ears (that being most of them) were the same pink color, as was his tail, which was curled at the end. Seeing the creature, Chris pulled out his D-Ark.

"Name: Labramon," he read aloud from the screen. "Type: Beast. Attribute: Vaccine. Labramon is a Beast Digimon whose name and design are derived from the Labrador Retriever dog breed. It has an appearance like a real dog. It is said that the Rookie-level is the final form of artificial Digimon, and although the prevailing view says that it won't Digivolve further than this, there exist unconfirmed reports of it having Digivolved further than that, too. Perhaps, some sort of miracle might stimulate a Digivolution in Labramon. It is exceedingly faithful to its Tamer, and feels called to protect them. Attacks: Cure Liquor and RetrieverG."

"I've never actually seen one," Agumon said in surprise. "But he doesn't look happy."

Everyone could clearly see that, even as he ran up with his Tamer and the woman's wife. Labramon couldn't seem to help but wag his tail happily upon seeing Ailah, but he was also growling at Devimon and giving rather mixed signals. Ailah's father looked rather unsure of the Digimon's presence behind his daughter and not entirely sure he wanted to walk over there and find out if he was as harmless as everyone else was saying. The woman however had her arms crossed and was glaring challengingly right at the creature, not showing any signs of being afraid of him. Devimon couldn't help but smirk a little. So that's where Ailah got it from.

"If you would allow me to explain," Sarah said, sounding a little out of breath from having to run to catch up to the group. "I would have already told you that there's no need for such concern about-"

"And how do you know?" Ailah's mother snapped at the woman.

"We've already conducted several hours of investigation-"

"Hours?!"

"Yeah," Ailah sighed. "Its been about two or three hours since the battle." The woman rounded on Ailah again, looking angry.

"And what were you doing battling anyway?" she asked. "You don't even have a proper deck!"

"Excuse me ma'am," Chris said, looking unsure if he should really be getting himself stuck in the middle of the argument. "My partner and I showed up during the battle, and she didn't really have a choice since the Digital Field appeared around her. She's a natural, and I'm the one who gave her the Digivolution card. She and Devimon really do make a great team, and he saved her life several times." The woman took a deep breath, pinching the bridge of her nose in a manner that reminded Devimon forcefully of Ailah.

"All right," she growled. "So you're telling me he helped her?"

"Well he wasn't even raised in the Dark Area," Gaomon pointed out from beside his partner, which seemed to surprise everyone except Ailah, Devimon himself, and him and his partner.

"Is that true?" Labramon asked, glancing suspiciously at Devimon, who finally spoke.

"It is," he replied. "Contrary to what most people seem to think, Digimon can chose the path they want to take, and I was raised by a Data type Digimon. I can only take this form because of my evolutionary chain."

"Besides," Agumon added quickly. "Chris and I were there when the Digignome gave Ailah the D-Ark when she met him."

At this, Ailah's mother finally seemed to calm a little bit and blink in surprise, turning to look at Devimon. It seemed like she might actually be seeing him there for the first time, instead of the monster she had considered to be too close to her baby. Devimon continued to smrik a little in amusement at the woman, which she found extremely odd. She'd never heard of a Devimon being well, patient before, or having a sense of humor. He seemed to have both of those things though and continued to watch her. Ailah's father finally seemed to not consider the creature a threat either, and was peering at him closely.

"If it makes you feel better," Victoria said, patting Garurumon's side and smiling. "Garurumon doesn't seem to think he's dangerous."

This did indeed make Ailah's family feel better, since they knew how protective Garurumon could be of their daughter. They'd known Victoria and Gabumon for a long time, ever since they had first befriended Ailah and made her come out of her shell just a little bit. It seemed that Devimon had managed to do that more than even they had managed though. For the first time, they noticed how Ailah had firmly planted herself between them and her new Partner, and there was something new in her eyes, a protectiveness they hadn't seen before.

Slowly, Labramon inched forward, sniffing the claws of Devimon's hands that were closest to the ground. Devimon didn't move an inch as he did so, seeming to not really care either way as the creature investigated him. When he was finished he stepped back, glancing up towards his Tamer, who was frowning thoughtfully as she stared at her daughter. Xailynn Hollingsworth had never had this much trouble reading her daughter before now, and she wasn't sure what to make of it. On one hand, she didn't like the new change in Ailah, but on the other, she was suddenly grateful to Devimon for helping her daughter grow up. Savoy Hollingsworth finally stepped forward and smiled to the creature in a friendly way, instantly drawing Devimon's eyes.

"Thank you," he said quietly. "For saving my daughter." To his surprise, Devimon's wings flared a little and he chuckled.

"Of course," he replied simply. "We are Partners now, after all."

"Well," Ailah's mother said, sighing and crossing her arms. She stubbornly turned her back to Devimon, but her voice didn't sound nearly so hard. "If you're going to stay in that form its going to be hard to let you in the house."

Ailah smiled at her mother, knowing that she had finally been convinced that he wasn't evil or going to attack her daughter any time soon at least. Labramon didn't look so convinced, but he wasn't trying to bite Devimon either. A bright glowing from behind Ailah made her turn to look as Devimon's form shrunk suddenly, becoming no taller than a toddler. Impmon was left standing there, still looking injured from whatever he had gotten hurt from before, but no worse for wear than before. Garurumon and Labramon seemed surprised to still see him standing now that they could clearly see the wounds he had. He smirked though.

"This better toots?" Impmon asked, his accent now returning in full force. Along with his much brasher and childish personality.

"An Impmon?" Victoria asked, looking at her D-Ark and reading the screen silently. She smiled then. "That's so cool! He's almost exactly like the one from Season Three!"

"Great," Savoy Hollingsworth sighed tiredly, but with a smile. "Another trouble maker in the house. Well, at least our home will never have a dull moment."

"Fine," Mrs. Hollingsworth growled, turning and storming out, Labramon running to catch up to her. "We're going home. Come on."

Mr. Hollingsworth shrugged as he turned and began to follow after them, leaving Impmon blinking a little in surprise as he watched the woman storming away. Victoria and Garurumon both smiled a little, trying not to laugh for Impmon's sake at the face that he was now making at the retreating family. Chris and Agumon failed though and began snickering a little until they saw the expressions on Gaomon and Sarah's faces. They quickly stopped laughing and straightened back up.

"Nice family you've got," Chris said. Ailah just smiled and nodded.

"They can be," she replied.

"Well, Ailah," Sarah suddenly said, still peering at Chris and Agumon disapprovingly. "I expect to see you tomorrow morning at Digital Academy. Gaomon and I will meet you and Impmon at the front gate, then go to see the Headmaster. If all goes well, you'll be starting your first day of school there tomorrow, as it is very important you now attend school there. Eight o' clock, sharp."

"Yes ma'am," Ailah replied, giving a quick wave over her shoulder as she saw her mother impatiently waving them forward towards the door, where the Rangers were busy trying to push the curious onlookers and crowds back so they could leave.

"Oh, and, Ailah?"

"Yes?" Ailah asked, turning to look once more at Sarah. The woman was smiling at her gently, which earned her some stunned looks from Chris and Agumon.

"Good luck," the woman said.

"Thanks," Ailah replied with a smile.

Then she turned and dashed towards her parents and the Digimon waiting next to them. Impmon was quick enough to keep up, and he was soon rushing after her towards the door. Besides, Impmon already knew from experience that it was nearly impossible for him to seem to leave the girl's side. Her parents probably wouldn't understand it, especially since they'd only just met, but he didn't exactly care at the moment.

For the first time in a long time, Impmon actually felt excited for the changes in his life, as normal and mundane as it would now be.

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 **And there's the end of yet another chapter. The setting of the story has finally been explained, as to where Ailah's parents disappear to from time to time. Ailah will be the one disappearing to parts unknown soon though, and that will make things even more fun!**

 **Anyway, look forward to more from this story, and feel free to leave a review below as you read the chapters and tell me what you think of the story so far. I mean, I'll continue to update regardless, but whatever.**


	5. Rise! Leomon's Strength!

**Here we go with chapter five. I've been updating this story kind of fast, but its because I want to actually get towards the end of the series where things start going down for real. If you guys like Impmon and Ailah, beware of the feels to come. Anyway, thanks for choosing to read this story, and let's continue on. Now we'll get to start meeting some other members of our future team, and their Digimon!**

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 **Note: I do read the reviews. I'll try to cut down on mentioning how close the two are and work on not giving a bio in future chapters This isn't my normal writing style, or at least not quite. While I have a tendency to overstress and repeat things too much, I usually write better introductions to the looks of characters. The reason I didn't was to try and get the stories out sooner rather than later. I do enjoy explaining details of characters, so I won't cut any out, but I'll try to make them less like bios. However I'm not going to overly edit this one considering it's long overdue.**

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 **As always, in the immortal words of a friend of mine: "Why did you make Devimon cute?"**

 **Because. Enough said.**

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 **I'm the author. Anyway, this chapter is going to be one of the first of the longer ones in the series. And they'll probably get longer.**

 **Enjoy guys.**

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Chapter Five: Rise! Leomon's Strength!

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 _How are you supposed to measure strength? In the power that someone can use when they fight? In their ability to know when battling isn't the only answer? Or is it solely in their heart. I don't think I really knew the answer back then, but I still had a better idea about it than one of my friends did. It took him a long time to try and decide what true strength was. Before then he'd always just tried to be the coolest and the strongest. It just goes to show you that sometimes it takes an adventure or two for someone to learn the answers on their own._

 _Unfortunately, people like to give you advice. That's not the unfortunate part. The unfortunate part is that people refuse to listen to that advice until its too late or they have to learn the lesson the hard way. No one likes to be told they're wrong, and people are often too blind to see it when they're not looking at things the right way._

 _And sometimes that means they have to have the answer slapped into their face until they realize what they were truly blind to before._

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Ailah took a deep breath, trying to calm her racing heart. She could do this. It was only Digital Academy, the biggest campus of it, where she would learn how to be a better Tamer, have new career choices and have to face her peers in battles...nothing that big. Except that she could already see that there were reporters everywhere trying to get the big scoop on her and her partner, even though her parents had specifically asked that no one try and get interviews. Then there was the fact that Impmon was slowly getting more comfortable, which meant he was starting to revert back to playing pranks. This morning that had included dropping a water balloon he had found downstairs on Ailah's head when she didn't get up on time. He was still rubbing the side of his face sullenly where she had slapped him for it, and he had yet to say anything to her this morning. Just great. She was going to have to face the press AND her angry partner.

"Okay," she told herself. "I can do this. We can do this, right?"

Impmon didn't reply, still rubbing the side of his face and glaring at her. She knew he would probably calm down pretty quickly, and she did feel bad for freaking out and just hitting him like that, but in her defense she'd been an only child and the only time something like that had ever happened to her she had to defend herself because the children doing it weren't doing it as a harmless prank and actually wanted to hurt her. She needed to remind herself that Impmon was a rather mischievous creature and she shouldn't hold it against him. She was still trying to get used to having a Partner. She held her bag closer to her chest, letting out a sad sigh.

"I said I was sorry," she mumbled. She still got no response, though Impmon finally stopped rubbing his smarting cheek and crossed his arms.

Ailah tightened her grip on her card box and D-Ark instead and continued walking forward, staring at the ground as she neared the front gate and the reporters that were already crowding the area. Students started staring at Ailah as they entered the campus, hoping to sneak by without having any of the reporters notice. She hated the way they were looking at her, as if she was about to unleash a monster on them. Some of them were sizing her up though, no doubt wondering how a girl who seemed so timid could keep a creature like Devimon in check. As soon as the reporters noticed the kids staring, they seemed to finally notice Ailah and Impmon, trying to swarm over the police barricade to ask for an interview. Ailah felt that this day couldn't get worse.

Behind her, Impmon started snarling at the students who looked too long, and those overly adventurous reporters who tried to jump the barricade. The warning on his face was clear enough to keep them back. He might have been angry with his partner for slapping him in the face, but he wasn't going to let them continue to make her uncomfortable. The reporters quickly made sure that they didn't cross the border and anger the Digimon, and many of the students looked away and hurried on with their partners behind them to get out of his line of sight. Ailah noticed this, and made a mental note to thank Impmon later when he wasn't so angry and she had the ability to speak again.

"Mrs. Hollingsworth," a familiar voice called.

Ailah turned and saw Sarah and Gaomon waiting for them, and Ailah had to admit that she was relieved to see them, even if they were acting far more professional than before. She quickly hurried over to meet them, Impmon following behind rather quietly as she did. No one said anything as the woman turned and led the two towards the front door, where they immediately began to make their way through the hallways and up stairs until they reached the top floor where the Headmaster's office was. A few students littered the halls, but most were outside enjoying the day before they were forced to endure classes once again.

As they neared the main office, Impmon chanced to look up towards his Partner, who still looked extremely uneasy. He took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh, imitating the same noise that she often seemed to make. Impmon had to remind himself that she was just as unused to this idea as he was. Besides, he had seen how those kids treated her, so he really shouldn't be so surprised that she had hit him. Ailah had already apologized and he wasn't being very fair to her. He saw her pause outside of the main lobby of the office, and he frowned.

He leaped up as quickly as his injuries would allow and sat down on her slender shoulder, crossing his arms and glaring ahead. Impmon had always been a rather prideful Digimon, and he'd never imagined he'd be acting like one of the "Digital Pets" as they were often referred to as in the Digital World. He had never even acted like this when he had been first born. He supposed that Ailah was just special for him, seeing how she was his partner. Heck, he hardly knew the girl! But he did know that he didn't like it when she looked so freaked out. He didn't say anything, letting her know that he was still mad at her for earlier, but he didn't want her to feel like he hated her. Luckily her shoulder was just wide enough for him to sit on with his legs and arms crossed.

He sent another glare at the rather curious onlookers and then growled quietly to himself. Ailah's fingers brushed him though, not really petting the fur but touching him. He felt her heave a sigh, but her shoulders relaxed a little. He didn't push her hand away. She needed him right now. Ailah finally steeled herself with her silent partner's help and stepped into the main Lobby of the main office. It was large and well decorated, with various secretaries glancing up briefly from their desks. Each one guarded the office of one of the various counselors and the Headmaster's office. The door to the center office, belonging to the Headmaster, was already wide open, and two people waited inside for the arrival of the possible students.

One was the rather familiar Headmaster of Digital Academy, a tall and lean man with bright and smiling gray eyes and dark black hair. He was wearing a blue suit that matched the basic color of the uniforms of the Academy. He had a partner with him, a small Betamon. The aquatic Digimon was green with four small claws on its feet, and it had blue stripes down its back. Its underbelly was white, and its eyes were a bright orange, the same color as the huge fin on its back. The creature was lounging comfortably on the desk, one eye lazily open as it watched them. No visible D-Ark was on this man anywhere.

The other was a tall woman with a nice figure. She was very beautiful with pale skin and round pink lips. Her hair was a bright blonde color and tied up into a bun above her head. She wore a dress suit with a tight skirt and blouse the same blue color as the other uniforms around the school. She had a clipboard in her hand and blue rimmed classes that sat precariously perched on her nose as she sized up the purple Rookie sitting on Ailah's shoulder. She had no partner, but was the Vice Principal of Digital Academy. Impmon bristled as he looked at her, feeling somewhere deep down in his gut that there was something off about him. When she saw his reaction to her, her nose wrinkled up almost into a snarl as she turned her eyes instead to Sarah.

"Mrs. Kingsley," the man greeted with a wide smile, taking her hand and shaking it. "Its good to see you here. And this would be?" He turned to look at Ailah, who was staring down at the ground.

"Ailah Hollingsworth," Sarah replied, giving the man a firm handshake in return. "and her Partner Impmon, Mr. Fuji."

"Please," the man said with a smile. "Call me Daisuke. Now, I heard all about the, ah, incident with your involvement. Quite admirable, I would say."

"Admirable?" the Vice Principal of the school scoffed as she peered farther over her glasses at Impmon in particular. "Sir you can't be serious. That creature is dangerous. Its in his nature to be so unfortunately, however we cannot ignore what he is."

"And what would that be, Ms. Kokan?" Sarah challenged the woman directly. Both Ailah and Impmon got the feeling that she knew the woman from the way the two were now glaring at each other. "The Rangers have already done extensive questioning on these two. If there was something dangerous about the _Impmon_ , he would have been safely returned to the Digital World. Are you saying that we can't do our jobs?"

"Not at all, Mrs. Kingsley," Ms. Kokan challenged back with a smirk. "I'm only pointing out the rather cunning nature of Devimon in particular. It would be...understandable if he managed to fool you and your workers with his answers and demeanor. The truth is however that this is a dangerous Digimon and should not be allowed to endanger the students here, even if the Rangers allow him to continue to remain here in the city. Its already bad enough that he's obviously fooled this poor young girl into thinking he's not evil." Ailah's head snapped up, and she gave the woman a glare that would make even Devimon proud. The woman ignored her however.

"And where are you basing you facts from, Rin?" Sarah asked, crossing her arms. "Just because he is a Virus Type? Betamon is a Virus type as well, or did you forget that?"

"That may be true," Ms. Kokan pointed out with an assured smirk. "but he doesn't remain a Virus Type through his entire evolutionary sequence. He evolves into Seadramon, which is a Data Type, and is also NOT known for being a murdering monster."

"You know very well that each Digimon has the ability to make their own decisions," Sarah growled dangerously, making Gaomon bristle as well. "that's what makes them living creatures. If there had been anything remotely dangerous about this creature I would have already taken care of the threat."

"Perhaps," the woman said, turning away disdainfully from Sarah and crossing her arms. "But there's also the fact that Digital Academy is full. We simply don't have the room for any more students and their Digimon. Letting in that boy and his Guilmon before had been a stretch, but there's simply no room."

"Enough, both of you," Mr. Fuji suddenly said, catching both women off guard as he walked forward and looked down at Ailah. "Tell me, Ms. Hollingsworth. Do you believe your partner is evil?"

"What?" she asked in surprise. "No of course not. He saved my life at least twice already."

"Hm," the man said thoughtfully. "And when did you meet this Digimon?"

"Sometime yesterday morning," Ailah replied. "Early, about three or four in the morning."

"And how did you meet him?"

"Well," she said, glancing down at Impmon, who was watching the man in front of him with a peculiar expression. "A Digignome led me to him. He was hurt from whatever had Bioemerged in the park. Then the Digignome gave me a D-Ark and I took him home with me."

"A likely tale," Ms. Kokan scoffed again, looking yet more assured. "Is there anyone who can prove these claims?"

"Actually, there is," Sarah said with a smirk of her own as Rin's fell. "The Ranger on duty at the time was there to witness the incident, as well as his Partner. If you would like, I can summon them and they can provide the testimony you need."

Now Ms. Kokan was snarling at Sarah, obviously unhappy with her. Actually, that was an understatement. The woman looked livid. She couldn't believe that she was showing her up at every turn. Ailah didn't know why she didn't want her and Impmon to enroll here. They didn't have room? Digital Academy always _made_ room for more students in the surrounding area. It was part of the Treaty that had set up this city in the first place. Besides, she knew that the Guilmon mentioned was also a Virus Type, and one with the ability to Digivolve into the Digital Hazard that could destroy the Digital World, a Megidramon. If he had been let in, what was wrong with Impmon?

She didn't get a very good feeling as she looked at the woman. There was something off about the way she was acting, something that said she knew something the rest of them didn't. She was honestly surprised that Gaomon and Betamon didn't seem to notice at least. She wasn't that surprised that their partners didn't seem to, because Ailah knew that she could be pretty dense at times, and so too could be adults. Maybe they'd known her for a long time and didn't expect there to be something wrong with her, or couldn't see anything wrong with her. Whatever the reason, it was giving Ailah a bad feeling that she could tell Impmon shared.

"That won't be necessary," Mr. Fuji replied. "I've made up my mind. Ms. Kokan."

"Yes, sir?" the woman asked with a smirk at the man's serious tone.

"Draw up a schedule for Ms. Hollingsworth," Mr. Fuji said, a smile appearing on his face. "and find her a uniform so she can begin her first classes today. I'll fix up the paper work so she can start attending school here."

"B-But, sir," Ms. Kokan gasped in surprise. "You can't be serious!"

"I can be," Mr. Fuji said, still smiling at Ailah and Impmon. "and am. You know very well that Digital Academy is always set up and ready to handle any number of new students that may arrive, and his type isn't an issue. If we want to make sure that this Digimon remains safe to the public, we have to make sure that we properly educate them. That's the reason our school was built after all. Besides, I don't see any indication that this creature is as dangerous as you seem to think."

"Sir, if you would just reconsider-"

"NOW, Rin."

The woman, now muttering under her breath and sending scathing glares in Ailah's direction, began to storm out of the room and begin grabbing things around the office as she went to her own office and slammed the door, no doubt to begin making her schedule. Ailah let out a slight sigh in relief when the woman was out of the room. She made her feel so uneasy, and she wasn't entirely sure what she felt about the woman or what the woman seemed to think of her and Impmon. However it seemed that Sarah had achieved her goal and gotten them enrolled here.

Impmon couldn't help but smirk as he watched the livid woman return with a uniform that she practically threw at Ailah. The girl was still wearing her usual outfit, a pair of jeans, sneakers and a plain black t-shirt that you might see an American wearing. The uniform she was given had shoes that went with it though, and it was more of a Japanese style of uniform. She quickly excused herself to go change, letting Impmon hop down off of her shoulder as she went inside a nearby bathroom.

After a while she managed to work her way into the shirt and get the tie correctly tied. Then she got the skirt on and the knee high white socks and shoes. Lastly she strapped on the belt (a modification to the skirt had belt loops for her to keep her brand new deck box and a place to strap on her D-Ark. She pulled the rubber band off her cards and slid them into the box on her belt, snapping it closed quickly. Then she pulled the D-Ark out of her bag and clipped it to the belt as well. It was a little strange to have it bouncing against her hip, and she didn't like the way the short skirt made her feel like she was showing too much, but she supposed she'd have to get used to it.

Impmon was waiting outside the bathroom for her, and he was leaning against the wall with his eyes closed and his arms crossed. He opened one eye to look at her when he noticed that she had come outside with her bag in tow (a small and traditional brown Japanese school bag to replace the one that had gotten destroyed in the battle). He frowned as he saw the outfit, and he wasn't sure he liked it either. He didn't like how much it showed on her, because he knew his Tamer was obviously a beautiful girl. He didn't want to have any guys flirting with her or anything. Then there was also the fact that it clearly made the shy girl uncomfortable. He gave her a critical eye, glad at least the skirt was pulled down low enough that it wasn't too revealing, and the belt was hooked tightly.

"I've seen worse," he teased her, getting a small and shy smile in return.

"Thanks," she replied quietly. "I guess."

"Sure thing, toots," he replied, giving her a smirk.

"I'm sorry about earlier," she said. "I was just...surprised."

"I know," Impmon said, flicking his hand over his shoulder as if to toss her worries about it away. "I shouldn't have tried that when you weren't expecting it. I saw how the other kids treated you. I should have expected you wouldn't react to well to it. But now that you know," a mischievous smile touched his face and a glint entered his eyes. "I'll be pulling more pranks." She rolled her eyes, getting a snicker from the purple Rookie.

"Whatever," she said. "Just don't get us in trouble too much at school."

"No promises."

Ailah was now in a much better mood as she walked back into the room where Gaomon, Betamon, Sarah and Mr. Fuji were waiting. While she had been out of the room, Ms. Kokan had come back in with a printed schedule that she had received and handed it off to Mr. Fuji. The Headmaster smiled at her and handed her the pink piece of paper that had schedule printed neatly in a mixture of Japanese Kanji and English Lettering that was often used as the main form of writing in Grange City. Most people used one or the other, but everyone knew how to write, read and speak both, especially considering tours and such came through all the time from Americans and Japanese students alike. Digital Academy almost always seemed to have one.

"Here you are, Ms. Hollingsworth," Mr. Fuji said with a smile. "Your schedule. Don't be afraid to ask other students where to go if you get lost, and feel free to come to me personally if you have any issues. Now, the first bell should be ringing soon. You'll mostly be staying in one room, on the first floor, but you have other classes that will have you have to move to other areas. Make sure to make friends too. Its not good to be alone."

"I will," she said quietly. "Thank you."

"Go on," he said. "Oh, and Impmon?"

"Yeah?" Impmon asked, making Gaomon roll his eyes and make some remark about him being more polite as Devimon.

"Please remember to take care of your Tamer."

Impmon was almost tired of hearing people say that to him. Did they think that he didn't want to keep his Tamer safe? Did they think he seriously hadn't already proven many times that he was going to protect her, no matter what? However, the man's smile was gone now, and he was frowning as he looked out the window. He seemed uneasy about something, but being the head of such a big place like Digital Academy, he probably knew more about what was really going on in the Digital World than most. Impmon also noticed Betamon was now watching him closely. Something about the Rookie Digimon told him that he was interested in him for another reason.

Was it because of the secret he was keeping? Maybe not. Even if someone knew the evolutionary chain of Impmon, there were plenty of Impmon who could reach their Mega Level. It would be nearly impossible for someone to just look at him and know who he really was. No, maybe they could just sense that he knew more about what was going on too, and that he was willing to try and stop it if he could. Why else would they let him into the Academy with his Tamer if they knew who he was? Wouldn't they just try and throw him out? He nodded to the man and Digimon.

"You got it," he replied. Betamon smiled this time.

"Then go off and get to class," he said in a tone that portrayed that he was much older than he looked.

"And good luck," Mr. Fuji added.

"Thanks," Ailah called, quickly leaving the office behind with her Partner in tow.

Ailah quickly made her way to the room where her first class would be held today. She wasn't entirely sure where she was going, and the first bell had already rang at this point. She knew it wasn't exactly good to show up late on her first day but she didn't know where she was going. This building was huge, even for a private Academy. She supposed she should have really expected it at this point. Finally, after seeing the room she took a deep breath and nodded to herself more than Impmon as she reached it. No turning back now.

She opened the door and stepped inside, pausing as the eyes of all the students in the room turned to look at her. To her dismay, she noticed Carly and Gatomon sitting next to Mark and Elecmon, though the two boys seemed to be rather interested in the newcomers (and probably in the fact that Ailah had a partner at all).

Ailah's eyes scanned the room, and she noticed another boy in the back corner with the Guilmon she'd heard mentioned earlier next to him. The dinosaur like Digimon was as tall as some kids, with longer front arms and cute claws on them. On his forehead was four triangles that formed the "Digital Hazard" sign and he was all red. Two bat like wings formed what appeared to be his ears, and he had black stripes. His powerful back legs also helped support a long tail, which was twitching just slightly. His bright yellow eyes were innocent and he smiled at them happily, and his white underbelly gave him an even cuter appearance.

His partner was a taller boy with brown hair and bright green eyes. He looked innocent enough, but no one was sitting near him or his virus type Partner, giving him a rather large berth. He wore the school's uniform, and his D-Ark had a red strap and matching red ring around the screen. He saw Ailah looking and paused a moment as he saw the Partner with her. No doubt, if he knew the Anime at all (which most people did at this point) he'd probably be surprised to see that she had an Impmon beside her as her Partner. Ailah wondered a moment if the boy's Partner could eventually evolve into Gallantmon or Megidramon. She wasn't sure if she wanted to find out.

"Yes?" the teacher called from the front of the room. "Come in dear, we won't bite. The Headmaster just called to inform me of your arrival. Come to the front of the classroom, both of you."

Ailah tried her best to not look nervous as she made her way to the front of the classroom, feeling unwelcome eyes on her. Impmon followed her quickly, sending Gatomon and Carly a quick glare that Ailah missed since she was facing forward. The two were a little surprised to see it, wondering if they'd ever met the Digimon before. As Ailah reached the front of the class and turned around, she noticed various Digimon and other creatures, though Guilmon and Impmon were the only Virus type Digimon in here.

The students, all wearing the same uniform, were watching her. Some, like Carly and Gatomon, had unfriendly eyes. Most just seemed curious, though Guilmon and his Tamer seemed to be the only ones looking at them with kind eyes. The teacher (whose Digimon was a Patamon curled up in the corner) smiled at Ailah. She wore a uniform like the outfit Rin Kokan was wearing earlier. Patamon was a small round Digimon with orangeish brown fur and a white underbelly. His eyes were blue and he had huge bat like ears that doubled as wings. He smiled at them as well.

"Welcome to Digital Academy," the woman said. "My name is Mrs. Brown, and this is my Partner, Patamon."

"Pleased to meet you," the Digimon said in his squeaking and adorable voice. It helped put Ailah a little at ease.

"We would like to put the rumors to rest," the woman said. "You're the ones who fought the Digimon along with a Digmon Ranger, correct?" Ailah nodded. "And your Partner can Digivolve to a Devimon?" Again, a nod from Ailah. "Aha. Thank you. Please introduce yourselves." Ailah took a moment to find her voice again.

"My name is Ailah Hollingsworth," she said, barely loud enough for the people in the back to hear.

"I'm Impmon," the purple Rookie said with a snicker. "And don't ya forget it."

"I don't think they can," Ailah sighed, glancing down at her Partner. Impmon shrugged but didn't elaborate on the subject. Mrs. Brown just smiled and nodded.

"I don't doubt we'll have our hands full with you two," she said. "Impmon are known for being...well, rather mischievous. I'm sure if you can handle Devimon you can handle Impmon though. All right, make our newest student feel at home students! Ah, there's a desk by Mr. Tachibana in the back, the one with the Guilmon. Impmon and Guilmon are both Virus types. I'm sure they'll get along well."

Ailah muttered her thanks, finding herself thinking about the fact that she wasn't entirely sure that was the case. She made her way back to the boy, sitting in one of the open desks next to him. There weren't any other students near them, so she sighed as she sat down. Impmon plopped down next to her, crossing his legs with his arms behind his head and appeared to take a nap. She couldn't really blame him though. She thought school was boring, so it was probably more so for him. At least if he was sleeping he wouldn't be getting them in trouble, and he wasn't the only Digimon around the room (though some humans were as well) sleeping.

Ailah glanced over and saw the boy (Tachibana?) and his Guilmon were watching them closely. Guilmon looked like he wanted to come over and say hi, or at least greet Impmon. He seemed highly interested in the little purple Rookie, and even though Guilmon was still a Rookie, he was definitely a more intimidating looking creature. Anyone who had seen the show would know that a Guilmon was a happy and innocent creature, very child like. However, because he was a virus type, people didn't really like him much. Tachibana shook his head and motioned the creature back, who looked confused but obeyed his Tamer.

This was getting stranger by the moment, reminding her even more than usual of the Anime. Guilmon was such a cute and innocent creature, so it was hard to imagine that he could ever turn into something like Megidramon. She much preferred the Royal Knight, Gallantmon, and she could only hope that's what he would turn into. Then again, maybe Megidramon wouldn't be so bad if he could listen to his Tamer or decide to not be evil. That's what Impmon did right? The Impmon in the Anime did the same thing, even after he had become…

Beelzemon.

The name hit her like a brick, making her freeze in surprise at the realization. Slowly her eyes traveled down towards Impmon, who had yet to notice anything out of the ordinary and continued to sleep like everything was fine. That's right, Beelzemon was Impmon's mega form, the Demon Lord Digimon. She thought back to the Crest that he had been carrying with him, the crest of Gluttony. She had seen it. She had given it back to him. And she was alive?

What was a creature like that doing here? Should she say something? Would anyone believe her? Nearly immediately she felt guilty for thinking like that. She knew Impmon wasn't an evil creature, and she knew that the he had saved her life. Even if the Crest was proof that he was the Demon Lord and not just an Impmon who could reach Mega Level, it brought up many questions. Why was he here? Why had he been so hurt? She realized he must have been the powerful creature that had Bioemerged, but then what had made a creature like him hide?

That explained to her why he didn't want to Digivolve back in their first fight. It explained why he seemed to think he needed to be away from her. She knew he was a gentle creature, especially for a Demon Lord, and she couldn't help but wonder why he was running from anything anyway. He knew more than anyone else about what seemed to be going on in the Digital World, and now she knew why he didn't want to reveal what he knew.

She didn't have all the answers, but as she looked down at the Digimon next to her, she felt a protective feeling rise in her again. She couldn't let anyone else know. Ailah would make sure no one else found out, and she was going to pretend that she didn't know about any of it. She'd pretend to be clueless. If he wanted to tell her eventually then he could. Right now though, he obviously felt like this was the best place to hide, and she had to agree. She would have never expected to find a creature like him here. So why was he hiding, and why did he need to hide his crest?

"Guilmon," the boy next to her hissed. She jumped in surprise as she felt the Dinosaur like Digimon's snout nudge her elbow.

"I'm Guilmon," the creature said, blinking and smiling as his ears twitched a little. "Hi there."

"Guilmon I said no," his Tamer hissed, making Ailah blink in surprise as Guilmon lowered his head a little and his ears fell a little. Impmon opened his eyes and glared at Guilmon, who didn't notice or didn't care.

"But Noah," he whined quietly. "she looks so lonely."

"We're in class, Guilmon," Noah Tachibana hissed back. No one seemed to notice this though, as Mrs. Brown was talking about Digimon statistics and using Patamon to show them different things. "Besides its kind of rude to just do that to someone."

"No," Ailah said with a small smile. "Its all right. He just startled me a little. I'm not scared or anything. Hello Guilmon, I'm Ailah." Guilmon's eyes lit up and his tail swished a little as he giggled at her. Noah facepalmed.

"Don't encourage him," he groaned quietly.

"Can't be any worse than Impmon," she replied with a small smile.

"Hey," Impmon snickered quietly. "I resemble that statement."

Both Virus type Digimon seemed to be at ease with the other's presence at least, but seemed to be watching their own Tamer as well. Ailah couldn't help but wonder if Impmon was worrying about her. It made her wonder just what she truly didn't understand about him. She was willing to try though, and just smiled at him as she saw him looking. Noah let out another sigh and turned to look at Ailah, giving her an inviting smile.

"So welcome to the reject corner," he said. "I guess this is where the Virus types go. Its kind of funny though. I feel like we're stuck in season three now."

"Yeah it kind of looks that way," she said with a small smile in return. "Thanks for letting me sit by you. Oh, and not being scared of Impmon. Everyone's scared of him."

"What's he like as Devimon?" Noah asked, looking interested. "I mean, Guilmon gets more serious but mostly he just gets bigger."

"Well," Ailah said thoughtfully. "As Impmon he's generally very outgoing and mischievous. He loves pulling pranks. As Devimon though he's much more mature and soft spoken. He's also way more cunning, and he's faster. He's still kind though, just in a different way."

"I'd really like to get to see him battle," Noah said with a grin, making Guilmon grin and nod in agreement as well. "Maybe we can see it soon? I mean, P.E. is usually just Digimon battles anyway, and sometimes other things that involve the Tamers more."

"You challenging us?" Impmon asked, smirking at Noah, who just shook his head.

"Nah," he replied. "I think I'll pass for now. Guilmon and I had a battle yesterday, and we should really rest up. You guys want to join us for lunch though? I get the feeling we won't be very popular around here for having Virus type partners."

"Sure," Ailah said. Impmon just shrugged like he could care less, but really he was much happier to see Ailah smiling now.

"Why not?" he asked.

"Great," Noah said.

"We have new friends, Noah," Guilmon giggled. Impmon just smirked.

"Whatever ya say, pineapple head," the Purple Rookie said. Ailah had to fight to not start giggling at this, remembering that in the show that's the exact nick name that the Impmon had used for the Guilmon.

The rest of the class was spent in companionable silence, seeing how they didn't want to push their luck and see if Mrs. Brown would notice them and get mad at them for their conversation in the back of their room. It was a nice silence however, one that finally meant they weren't so alone and both tamers had at least one friend here at school. People seemed scared of Virus Types, especially those with the potential to become creatures thought to be evil.

* * *

The day continued rather slowly until the bell finally rang for lunch, and the whole class seemed to be getting up to make their way to the lunch room. Carly, from her seat at the front of the room (front and center as she deserved to be) saw that Mark was once again looking at Ailah. He didn't look to happy to see her leaving with Noah and Guilmon, and he was having a quiet conversation with Elecmon.

Was he seriously jealous of Noah hanging out with Ailah? Mark was the coolest guy in school, and should have been dating her. They'd be the most popular couple in school then, and she'd turned down countless other guys because she liked Mark and wanted him to date her. He never seemed to be interested in her though.

Carly tsked between her teeth as she saw Mark stand and leave the room, his eyes still lingering on Ailah and Noah as he began to make his way to the lunch room. She slammed her bag closed and grabbed it, throwing it over her shoulder. Victoria was another person who'd fallen for Ailah's apparent charms. Victoria was a popular upperclassmen for being so nice to everyone and also for being great at sports, and Carly wanted to be number one in this school. So she made sure to hang out with only the coolest people.

Maybe if she did, her mom and dad wouldn't think of her as a failure all the time. Her mother and father were starring movie actors that appeared in big roles all the time here in the city, which was a cultural hub of the world now. Movies and other such things were held all over the place here in Grange City, and they wanted her to follow in their footsteps.

She'd appeared in movies all over the place, supporting roles and all sorts of things, and Gatomon too. It had made her one of the most popular girls at school. Yet still her parents were never home and often touring all over the place for movies. They never had time for her anymore. And to make matters worse, they expected her to land a lead role in a big project as well as balance her studies. Sometimes she wished she had different parents.

Still, she had an image to maintain and she had to keep herself as popular as possible. Many kids here at school had connections to different places all over the city, including magazine and movie directors. If she wanted to make it big, without her parent's help, then she needed to make a name for herself here at school. So she made herself look like a bitch, but that's the image everyone seemed to love and want her to have. She was an actress after all. Still, she knew she was jealous of Ailah. Why? One, she had showed her up and gotten way more attention than her because of her partner. And two, the girl just had such an easier life than she did.

"I can't believe her," Carly growled to herself. "Seriously! Who does she think she is, trying to steal all of my spotlight like that!"

"Uh-huh," Gatomon's reply came.

Carly turned to look at Gatomon in surprise, knowing that usually her partner would either be agreeing with her (knowing her decision about how she was going to get successful and willing to help her by acting like a jerk too) or comforting her. Now though, the cat like Digimon's tail was flicking just slightly as she was watching Impmon down the hallway. A slight smile on her face as she saw him antagonizing Guilmon by tugging on his ears and tail and trying to ride him like some sort of horse. Carly paused as she saw the small smile tugging on her partner's face before, the same kind of look she'd seen before, but never on her Partner's face.

"Wait," she said in surprise. "Gatomon do you...like Impmon?"

It was an innocent enough question, one of surprise instead of disgust at the thought. Either way though, it made the feline Digimon flinch as if she'd been struck as her eyes widened. No doubt, Gatomon felt like she'd betrayed her friend by liking the other Digimon, and she didn't want to disappoint her Tamer. Her ears flattened against her head as she whirled around to stare at Carly. Did she like Impmon? Maybe. Probably. She couldn't explain it, but she found the way the Virus Type Digimon acted and moved so different from anyone else. He wasn't scared to act like himself, no matter what anyone thought. That wasn't something she could do.

"Wh-What?" she gasped. "I...no of course not!"

"Gatomon," Carly called with a sly smile on her face. "You LIKE Impmon, don't you?" Gatomon's head and tail fell.

"Yes," she said, her voice hardly more than a whisper. Carly sighed.

"All right," she said. "What do I need to do?"

"What?" Gatomon asked, her ears coming up in surprise.

"Gatomon," Carly said. "You're my best friend. I can let my reputation take a hit if you like someone."

Gatomon stared up at Carly with wide eyes. Had she just said she'd let her reputation be possibly ruined if it meant that she could possibly get a date with Impmon? She knew that Carly's reputation was really important to her, and for her to be willing to throw everything away just for her was a really big deal. The cat like Digimon began to purr as she leaped up onto Carly's shoulder, rubbing the side of her face into her Tamer's.

"Thanks Carly," Gatomon said happily.

"Yeah yeah," Carly said, trying to look cool as reached up and patted her Partner's head. Gatomon could tell she was pleased by her happiness though. "Anyway, what should we do about it?"

"Well," Gatomon said thoughtfully. "We could always battle them. Maybe if we get to know them a little better I'd get a better chance to find out what he likes."

"Digimon translate everything through battle," Carly sighed. It was rather true that Digimon often liked to battle, though those with Tamers could be rather affectionate and gentle. "Fine. Whatever. We'll battle them."

"We'd better go then," Gatomon pointed out. "before anyone else does."

Carly begrudgingly admitted the point as she grabbed her bag and threw it over her shoulder again. She made sure to not knock her Partner off though as she did, knowing that Gatomon was going to be excited about the prospect for probably the rest of the day. Carly knew that Ailah and Impmon were practically going to be the center of attention for a while because of what Impmon really was, so battling her would make her more popular. It was a win win situation. Gatomon got to know more about Impmon, and Carly got a reputation boast. She needed to hurry though, or she'd miss her chance to be first.

* * *

Ailah sighed as she sat down next to Noah. Guilmon already had his face shoved into a large bag filled with all sorts of food, which the cafeteria staff seemed always ready to stuff if he should get too "bored" during lunch. How he could actually eat that much without exploding was beyond her, but it made her smile to see him trying to shove his body into the bag to reach the bottom. Impmon on the other hand was sitting on the chair next to Ailah and eating much slower than Guilmon, with at least some table manners.

Noah on the other hand was eating his own food and hoping that things didn't get too out of hand while he was waiting for the rest of lunch to be over. Luckily, even though this was a more Japanese style school it had an American style cafeteria (with much better food). Ailah giggled a little at Guilmon's antics as she began to eat her sushi. At least her days wouldn't be boring if she continued to hang around these two. Impmon already promised to make her life more interesting just by being her partner, but she didn't know the last time she'd been able to enjoy a peaceful lunch with someone in her own grade level.

Since it was such a large school, there were several large cafeterias all over the place, so Ailah knew there was a good chance she'd never see Victoria and Gabumon in the same one. Even so, she couldn't keep herself from looking over the crowd for their familiar faces. Maybe she'd get lucky and get to see her older friend. As she was looking around, she noticed a tour group stopping by to watch the kids and learn some things. Several students had young Digimon with them, and most would be going to the school when they finally turned old enough.

Someone dropped their bag on the table across from Ailah, making her jump as she looked up. To her surprise, she saw Mark sitting there, seemingly too cool to even glance in Noah's direction and ignored Guilmon's attempts to greet him. Mark's partner Elecmon just shook his head and smiled as he started a casual conversation with the virus type. Ailah shifted a little uncomfortably as Mark didn't even seem to need to blink, his intense stare boring into her. Nearly immediately Impmon began to bristle and glare at the teen across the table, which didn't go unnoticed by Mark. His storm gray eyes flashed as he met Impmon's snarl, then smirked in amusement. He crossed his arms.

"So you do have a partner," he said. "I have to say, I was surprised to hear the rumors were true. I knew you were interesting when we first met in the park. You're a lot stronger than you look if you can control a Digimon like Devimon."

"I don't control him," Ailah said distractedly, a frown touching her face as she noticed how the Rookie next to her was bristling. "He's my partner."

"Whatever," Mark said, waving his hand dismissively. "I want to test just how strong you are. Elecmon and I are challenging you. Today, during Gym class. I expect you to be there."

With that, Mark stood and left the area without even so much as waiting for Ailah to accept or decline the challenge. Ailah glanced towards Noah, who was just as confused and just shrugged as Elecmon sighed and dashed off to find his partner again. Guilmon's ears twitched as he turned instead back to his food, and Impmon slowly relaxed. He continued to glare after the boy, muttering something under his breath that Ailah couldn't quite hear. Ailah's frown deepened as she looked at him. Was he really…Beelzemon? What would happen if she continued to let him battle? It wasn't that she didn't trust him, but that no one else did. She didn't want him to get into trouble because of her. Impmon glanced up, noticing her expression. For a moment, his expression darkened, and Ailah wondered if he knew what she was thinking. But then he flashed her a fanged smile and the shadow was gone from his face as quickly as it had come.

"Don't ya worry, toots," he said. "We can take 'em. Just you watch me!"

"Y-Yeah," she said, managing a smile.

"Its kind of weird though," Noah said thoughtfully. "Mark is pretty popular, so he doesn't challenge just anyone. He's strong too."

"Maybe he is," Impmon said, shrugging and putting his hands behind his head as if the information no longer interested him. "But I've got more experience battlin'."

* * *

Mark heard this as he was walking off and smirked to himself. That Impmon was certainly very confident at least, which was good. He'd rather have to face the strongest Digimon he could find, and Ailah and her Partner were probably the strongest team here, or at the very least an extremely interesting one. He walked off quickly, heading again to the hallway, his red digimon just behind him. As they turned the corner Mark paused, leaning against the wall a little to think. He had to admit to himself that Ailah had intrigued him since they'd first met in the park. Something about her just seemed different.

"Mark," Elecmon sighed.

"What?" Mark asked back, a slight growl of annoyance entering his voice.

"You have to stop this," Elecmon said, his disappointment clear in his voice. "You're not getting anywhere like this. You're only going to get yourself pushed away from everyone at this point. Being a bully does not make you cool."

"And how would you know?" Mark asked, his eyes narrowing angrily. "This is how people want to see me. Plenty of people think I'm cool like this. I'm just giving them what they want."

"And that's why we'll lose today," Elecmon sighed. "You don't understand what real strength is, or what it takes for you to be the person you truly want to be."

"Whatever," Mark snapped. "I'm not worried. I've got you, and your powerful champion form, Leomon."

Mark turned and stormed off, leaving the digimon behind him. Elecmon's eyes were sad now as he watched the boy leaving again, slowly shaking his head. Sometimes he wished his partner would just listen to him for once, but the boy continued to keep pushing everyone away, including his own digimon partner. Still, Elecmon could tell that there was something different about the Virus type he would be fighting later and his partner. He could hope that they would find some way to break past Mark's wall and help him become a better person.

"Your father's wrong, Mark," Elecmon whispered even though the boy was long gone from sight. "Its not weakness to show emotion. You'll never be the man he wants you to be until you realize that he doesn't have all the answers."

Of course there was no reply from the boy, not that the digimon really minded. He so desperately wanted to tell the boy this, but anytime he mentioned his parents the boy would shut himself off from everything until the subject had been changed for quite some time. Sometimes his partner was impossible, but they were best friends. Elecmon quickly charged off to find his partner before he got himself into trouble.

* * *

When they reached the gym, Ailah couldn't help but blink and pause, nearly getting run over by Guilmon who was still eating bread. Noah quickly apologized as he grabbed Guilmon and tried to haul him away from the girl. Obviously he was failing to some extent, and making the red dinosaur type digimon whine in confusion as he tried to continue munching on his treat. Impmon probably would have made fun of him if it wasn't for the fact that he was also blinking around the huge arena like room where they were now standing.

Various students were sitting on the bleachers looking over the arena where Mark and Elecmon were already waiting, though she wasn't sure if there were any upperclassmen here. She could also see a group no doubt coming here for a tour. Several parents were here along with children half her age and closer to her age with digimon and without digimon partners. They were watching excitedly as various conversations from the watching students and their partners were going on.

Next to Mark was a tall lady in a teacher's uniform. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail and her eyes were serious and determined. At her feet was a Gomamon, a white seal like digimon with purple stripes and orange hair own its back. Its bright brown eyes were watching the crowd, and when he spotted her and Impmon it reached out and tapped his partner's shoe with one clawed flipper. The woman turned to see Ailah and Impmon and crossed her arms, giving them a clear order to get over there. Ailah quickly followed the silent order, Impmon just behind.

"Finally here I see," the woman said strictly as the two reached her. "Very well. We'll let it slide since this is your first day. My name is Ms. Karma. All right, so you and Mark will be fighting, correct?"

"Y-Yeah," Ailah replied. The woman just nodded.

"These are the rules," she continued, not seeming phased. "Digimon will only be allowed to reach their champion forms to keep damage to a minimum. A match can be forfeit by either the digmon or their partner, and no banned cards will be allowed in this battle. Understood?" Both students nodded, Ailah looking nervous and Mark looking smug. "Then we'll get this battle underway. Both of you go to a side of the arena and swipe your arena cards so you won't accidentally delete your opponent's digimon."

Ailah was quick to do as she was told, rushing to the side of the arena across from Mark and pulling out her D-Ark and a card. She readied the arena card and turned to face Mark. She didn't want to lose her partner now, especially not when she'd just found him. Demon Lord Digimon or not, she did like Impmon and she needed to protect him. Impmon watched her carefully, looking up at her face as she scanned the crowd. She noticed Carly and Gatomon in the stands, frowning at the two of them and looking disappointed. They quickly scoffed and looked away when they saw her looking though and she frowned.

"Carly and Gatomon look disappointed," she said, more to herself than anyone else.

"Eh," Impmon replied, shrugging as if he didn't care. "They probably just wanted to be the first to challenge us to a battle. You okay?"

"I'll be fine," Ailah sighed. "Just...be careful okay?"

"Don't ya worry toots," he snickered. "I can take him. You don't have to be so scared all the time. I can take care of you. Besides, you're a natural. Just let it happen. I'm here with you whether you win or lose, got it?" Ailah smiled at him, probably the first real smile she'd given him all day.

"Got it," she said.

"All right," Ms. Karma called loud enough to get the conversations to die down. "We're about to begin this special digimon battle. To those visiting us this week, I hope you will get to enjoy a battle that exlimpifies our fine establishment. Today our battle is between Mark Voss and his Partner Elecmon, and Ailah Hollingsworth and her partner Impmon." She paused a moment as there was a cheer from the spectators. "The rules have already been explained. Battlers, ready your D-Arks. Arena cards ready!"

"Digimodify," Mark called, making Ailah jump but quickly swipe the card as he did. "Arena Card Activate!"

Ailah blinked a little as the two D-Arks glowed a moment and then seemed to connect. Lines began to draw themselves on the ground, giving the area a strange red glow as the arena activated itself. She couldn't help but be a little relieved when she saw it worked and Impmon eagerly jumped forward to face a bristling Elecmon. Ms. Karma was busy telling the crowd the rules for the battle, so Ailah took a deep breath and reached into her card holder. She pulled out a familiar blue card and looked down at it. She wasn't going to let Impmon down now. No, she wasn't going to let herself down now. She pulled out several more cards and looked up.

Mark seemed surprised to see that the timid look had left her eyes. She almost seemed like a totally different person, and she knew why. She was determined that she wasn't going to let anyone down this time. Impmon was counting on her to help him win this battle. She was counting on herself to stop hiding away from everyone else all the time. She'd been bullied and picked on too many times, and her self confidence had taken quite the hit. But now the digignomes had given her this task and her partner, whatever that really ended up being. She refused to hide away anymore.

"Prepare for battle," Ms. Karma called, knocking both teenagers back into reality. "Go!"

Nearly immediately Ailah raised the blue card to her D-Ark, and she saw Mark do the same. There was no hesitation on either tamer's part, mostly because they knew that if they didn't evolve their partner right then and there, there would be some problems because the other tamer wasn't pausing or waiting to do it themselves. Both digimon seemed to be covered in a dark digiegg even as their tamers called out the card's name, Impmon's dark purple and Elecmon's dark orange.

"Digimodify," both tamers cried simultaneously, much to the excitement of the crowd. "Digivolution activate!"

"Elecmon digivolve to," the voice cried, changing from the higher pitched to a lower and more regal sound. "Leomon!"

"Impmon digivolve to," the familiar digimon cried, its voice changing immediately from the Brooklyn accent to a smooth and dangerous purr. "Devimon."

Both digieggs shattered outwards into data, leaving two much larger and much more intimidating looking digimon standing where the rookies had previously been. Devimon gave the lion like champion a fanged smile, but not an overly threatening one, as he heard Guilmon exclaim something from the stands (to his partner's obvious dismay). Leomon was a tall and well muscled digmon with a lion's face and mane. He wore ripped bluejeans and carried a sword across his back, but his green eyes were still extremely friendly. He gave the Devimon a simple nod to acknowledge him, before bristling to face his foe. Devimon, besides flexing his claws, didn't move.

"Hmph," Mark growled, hoping to get a reaction from the digimon or Tamer. "So this is it? I was expecting something more. This digimon is the one everyone's talking about?"

"Do not fear," Devimon purred. "You will see plenty before this battle is done."

"Mark do not try to antagonize the enemy," Leomon barked in a much more powerful tone than his smaller rookie form. Mark didn't respond to the reprimand though and just pointed to the Devimon.

"Then let's find out," he snapped. "Leomon, attack Devimon!"

Leomon frowned, but drew his sword and crouched as he had been told, his tail swishing in an agitated way. Ailah's eyes narrowed as she saw this, quickly raising another card to slash it. She knew that Mark was trying to get her to rashly attack, but she also knew that Devimon wasn't the kind of digimon that would randomly attack. If he had still be Impmon he might have gotten mad and fallen for the obvious gouge. Then again, maybe not. She knew he was a Demon Lord Digimon and a lot older than he was letting on. She slashed the card, hoping that he'd understand her idea.

"Digimodify," she called. "Hyper Speed Activate!"

Devimon's smile widened as he felt the power flowing through him, seeming to flicker and then disappear as the card activated. He was now no where to be seen, much to the confusion of Leomon and Mark's slight fear. His eyes began to flick around the arena, and as a few seconds passed, the crowd's murmuring became something between excitement and nervousness. Ailah, far more used to her partner's peculiar powers than anyone else, noticed that he was now waiting in Leomon's shadow. The only thing that gave it away was the fact that it was now slightly misshapen, as if Devimon had to squish himself smaller to fit into the shadow.

"Let's see how you like this," she called, already swiping another card. "Digimodify Activate! Leomon's Fist of the Beast King!"

"Fist of the Beast King," came the instant reply from the lion like digimon's shadow.

Leomon's eyes widened as he turned, just in time for Devimon to come flying out of his shadow and raise his fist over his head. Leomon tensed to dodge but had no time as Devimon punched towards him, an orange energy shaped like a lion's head roaring as it smashed into his cheset. Leomon yelled out in pain as he went crashing away from the virus type, slamming hard into the wall. Devimon didn't waste a moment, raising his wings and his eyes narrowed dangerously as he raised his hands almost as if to embrace the vaccine type. However this obviously wasn't his intention as dark black bats with red eyes flew towards him.

"Evil Wing," he called.

Leomon growled but leaped up, quickly dashing away from the attack and slashing his sword through several of the bats that got too close for comfort. Devimon's smile had let to leave his face, much to Mark's obvious frustration. As the virus began to raise his hand to ready his Death Hand attack however, Ailah spotted Mark's anger. She smirked a little, knowing she could use that to her advantage against him.

"Devimon, come back," she called.

Devimon's eyes flicked up and noticed Mark's furious eyes. He also smirked, quickly catching on to what Ailah was trying to do. He wasted no time in rising on his wings and leaping back closer to his partner, going again into a far more relaxed pose as he waited for Mark to make his move. This obviously angered the boy greatly, if the way he was gritting his teeth was anything to go off of. Obviously losing in any way didn't sit well with him. He let out an audible growl, which is partner quickly noticed. Leomon frowned.

"Mark you cannot allow anger to cloud your judgment," he warned. Mark snarled and quickly slashed a card.

"Digimodify," he growled. "Devimon's Death Hand!"

"Death Hand," Leomon growled unhappily.

Leomon raised his hands, letting loose a blast of unholy energy. Devimon just smirked as he dodged it nimbly, not at all seeming disturbed by the fact that the boy was making his digimon use the moves that he already knew well against him. Obviously he wanted to get back against them for using one of Leomon's moves against him, but he was refusing to see what his partner was saying. He was just mad and wanted to defeat them. Ailah's eyes were now focused and flaming though, nothing at all like the damaged girl that Devimon knew she was. If only her old bullies could see her now. Maybe that would stop some of her treatment from them. Luckily she was here now, and he was here to make sure that no one caused her grief. Devimon chuckled darkly.

"Your teamwork seems to be lacking," he remarked, much to Mark's rage. Ailah slashed another card in response.

"Digimodify," she called. "Gallantmon's Shield of the Just, Activate!"

"Shield of the Just," Devimon called.

This time he raised an arm, as if raising a shield, and it appeared that Gallantmon's beautiful silver and gold shield appeared on his arm. As he raised it to attack, Leomon's eyes widened as he tensed to flee. Though they were both only Champion level Digimon, that was a Mega Level's attack and it would certainly do a lot of damage if it hit. Ailah had already suspected that he would try to dodge though and quickly slashed another, far more familiar card.

"Digimodify," she cried, making Mark jump and reach towards his own cards far too late. "Hyper Speed Activate!"

In a flash Devimon was gone, and Leomon whirled around to look for him, raising his shield. No doubt, he expected Devimon to appear from his shadow again. Ailah knew Devimon was far too smart for that though, and that he wasn't going to make himself predictable for their sakes. He appeared instead directly above Leomon, his wings allowing him to hover in the air as he looked down and raised the shield again. This time Leomon noticed his shadow and looked up in time for the shield to glow and blast him away. Leomon went rolling across the ground.

Devimon landed as the shield disappeared, watching the downed champion. Leomon didn't get back up though, and soon dedigivolved into his weaker Rookie form. Mark just looked stunned as Devimon dedigivolved too back into Impmon. Impmon smirked and put his hands behind his head as if he'd just had the easiest battle of his life. In all honesty though, Ailah was expecting a lot more than that. Maybe it was just because she had been told he was so strong. She supposed though that Impmon had been right in saying he had more experience battling. He was so calm and collected in battle, even as Impmon, that he seemed like a completely different digimon. Then again, maybe that was true enough, considering the crest he was hiding under his bandana. She let out a sigh she hadn't realized she had been holding and then gave Elecmon a mournful look.

"The battle's over," Ms. Karma called, sounding rather pleased by the performance. "The winners are Ailah and Impmon. Both tamers and their digimon will go to the nurse's office for a check up, and if anyone else wants to battle they can come talk to me."

Conversations quickly began again as people began to make their way down to talk to the P.E. teacher or otherwise just talk about the battle they had just witnessed between the vaccine and virus type. Frowning, Ailah made her way over to Mark, who was kneeling next to his injured partner. Mark looked absolutely furious, and especially when he saw Ailah coming closer. Impmon rolled his eyes and quickly ran over to help his partner in case the boy tried to do anything stupid. Elecmon stood, looking far less injured than he'd let on.

"What did you do that for?" Mark demanded to his partner. "You can still fight! You're fine!"

"I stopped the battle because you got too angry," the digimon replied coolly. "You pushed yourself to the point where you refused to listen to me. We're partners, not enemies. I'm only trying to help you."

"By stopping the battle?" the tamer snapped.

"Yes," Elecmon growled in frustration. "You're doing things all wrong. You're acting like your father, getting angry at everyone for no reason and then refusing to listen to reason. This doesn't make you cool, Mark."

"Are you seriously-"

"I am," Elecmon snapped. "Because you won't listen to me. Impmon and Ailah are way stronger than you, and until you can figure out why, I won't let you battle just because you want to take out your anger at something. No one here's your enemy!"

Mark paused, seeming surprised for a long while as he stared into the flaming eyes of the digimon in front of him. Ailah paused away from them, unsure if she should try and say something so they'd make up or just let things play out. Seeing her starting to become more timid again, he rolled his eyes and stepped forward, raising a gloved hand to Mark instead. The boy blinked a moment as he slowly met the virus type's eyes. He didn't move for a long while, but Impmon seemed to stubborn to move either. For a while there was just silence.

"Well?" Impmon asked. "You gonna shake my hand? It was a good match. But your partner's right. Taking your anger out on everyone else isn't good for you. Believe me, I know that all too well."

Slowly Mark blinked, then reached up and took Impmon's hand, shaking it. Impmon grinned, revealing his single fang before letting go and stepping back, looking up at Ailah instead. She smiled at her partner before offering her own hand to Mark, who just seemed stunned a moment. Maybe it was because he was always trying to act so cool, and Ailah wasn't phased by that at all. She could really care less how he decided to act. Right now it seemed like he needed a helping hand, so she was offering it to him. He slowly took her hand, and she pulled him up to his feet.

"Let's go check in with the nurse," she said kindly.

Mark just blinked as Ailah turned and began walking away from him. Impmon growled a little as he saw him staring at her, not that he seemed to notice him. Impmon quickly ran to catch up with his partner. At least today had gone reasonably well.

* * *

 **There we are. Finally the end of chapter 5. This chapter ended up being rewritten like 5 times, and it would have been out a lot sooner except that I had some health issues and testing that needed to be done for a while. Anyway, I'm definitely still updating this story, it just takes a while. Thanks for your support and patience!**


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